101 Ways to Fake a Marriage
by Wild Blueberries
Summary: AU When Quistis Trepe woke up from night at the bar, she expected a hangover not to wake up unexpectedly married to a famous author. Now they’ve got to fake 50 days of marriage until they get the divorce papers. Quall.
1. Hangovers

AU When Quistis Trepe woke up from night at the bar, she expected a hangover - not to wake up unexpectedly married to a famous cold-hearted author. Now they've got to fake 50 days of marriage until they get the divorce papers, but by the time they get them ... will they need them? QUALL

The first thing that entered her heard when she was in the process of waking up was she had a hell of head ache. The second, quickly followed after the first; was the fact that the head ache, was in fact, a hangover. She promptly groaned.

She opened her eyes, wincing at the light that was pouring through the windows. The insanely-it-should-be-illegal-it's-too-damn-bright light, that is. She brought a hand up to her head, and was surprised by a small pain as she did that.

Frowning, she moved her hand so she could see it properly without squinting. A ring. Not any ring, though. One with a huge diamond in it. She blinked. This was not a good sign. Suddenly she felt a bit chilly, and went to pull her pyjamas closer in an effort to keep warm. Only there was none.

Slowly, she looked down. She was naked. This wasn't a good start to her day. She felt fear rising up inside her. Quistis Trepe had never drank in her life, so when her best friend Xu, had dragged her to a bar in a Deling, it was only natural she'd get drunk.

What _wasn't _natural, was that she was in what looked like a fancy hotel, with a ring that wasn't hers and - oh. Dear. God. She slowly rolled over in fear, a naked man next to her.

Doing the only logical, well not even logical - just doing the first thing that popped into her head, she screamed. Now this wasn't one of those I'm-a-damsel-in-distress-come-help-me screams, no, no; this was a holy-shit-I-woke-up-with-stange-man-I've-never-seen-in-my-entire-life screams.

The man, who was obviously not deaf since he heard her, jerked awake and fell off the bed with a loud thump. She scrambled to the other side of the bed, away from his and took the bed sheets with her.

And that's when she noticed it. A marriage certificate on top of a fancy wooden desk. Oh _wonderful_, she thought, she got drunk, got married and most likely slept with a man she had never even met before.

Clutching the bed sheets close to her, she was tying her hardest not to hyperventilate. Well, she thought dryly, at least she was married before she had sex - too bad she didn't remember anything about it.

She cautiously poked her head out to look over the bed, who knows, he could be a serial killer or something. The blonde squinted at the foreign brunette. He didn't _look _dangerous, however, he did look pissed off as he pulled his jeans on.

It occurred to her, it would probably be a good idea to put her cloths on as well, when she felt her shirt barely skim the top of her head when the man threw it to her. Fine, two could play that game, she decided throwing his shirt at him.

After throwing clothes back and forth she got dressed in what she assumed, she had worn the night before. "I want a divorce." She said as she peered at the marriage certificate, that said in bold print Quistis Trepe and Squall Leonheart had gotten married the previous night.

She frowned, the name sounded a bit familiar; however being just an instructor she didn't keep up with all the star glamour and stuff her students did. "Hn." Was all he said before, going to the door.

"Hey, wait. Can at least get a number? I don't plan on staying married to someone I don't even know!" She said calling after him, trying desperately to keep up with his long strides despite certain pain.

He stopped and stared at her for a moment. She stared back, he had gorgeous grey eyes, brunette hair, and she paused, a very, very expensive leather jacket. "Stop limping." He told her coldly, "They're going to think I tortured you or something."

"What?" She hissed angrily, "What do mean stop limping? It's kind of hard not to!" He said nothing and continued walking down the hotel lobby... with a huge chandelier. It occurred to her this guy must be rich, as he walked to front desk and paid with a cheque book.

Then she started wondered who 'they' were, maybe he worked for the government or some paying company... what if he worked for an illegal operation? Or worse? She got so wrapped up in her thoughts she just barely saw him opening the hotel doors. The blonde groaned, and scurried after him.

To be frank, she wasn't prepared for all the microphones, the huge mass of reporters or the bright camera flashes; so she only just barely found her way behind him with all the flashing lights and loud noise.

"Mr. Leonheart, when do plan on writing your auto-biography?" One asked from the very back of the crowd.

"How does it feel to be the most wanted bachelor?" A red haired woman asked from the front. 

Bachelor? Quistis thought dryly, not anymore.

"How do you feel about the reviews of your books?" A man asked. Ohhh, so he was a writer! That's why his name sounded so familiar, she remember some of the girls in her classes were talking about his book series... too bad she couldn't remember what the series was called for the life of her.

And then, the 'piranhas' spotted her.

"Mr. Leonheart, is that your new girlfriend, or another one of you fan girls?" The same red-haired woman asked.

All the murmuring, loud voices, questions and whispers were not helping her hangover

"What is your relationship with her?" A man from the front asked loudly. The crowd went silent. The blonde paused to look at the mysterious brunette; he'd have to be pretty stupid to blurt out and say they got drunk and wound up getting married by mistake.

She could practically see the wheels turning in his head and turned back to the crowd for a moment. She wanted out of here. Now. That's when it happened.

"She's got a wedding ring!" Someone yelled loudly.

And all Hell broke loose.

"When did you get married?" A raven-haired woman asked.

"How did you meet?" Another person asked loudly.

"Where did you get married?" A bald reporter asked.

Squall put his hand up to stop any further comments. "Ladies," at which practically all the female reporters swooned over his voice, "and gentlemen, my wife," He paused a moment trying to recall her name. "Quistis Trepe, and I got married last night in private. We are in love very much, and this will not affect any further publications of mine, nor my wife's career." He announced loudly. As if to kill off any further questioning about their 'marriage', he grabbed poor (still hung over) Quistis and kissed her - in front of the whole crowd.

And the whole crowd, if asked, would tell you that was _not _a peck on the lips either. Being the smart man Squall was, moved so his back was facing the crowd so no one would see his 'wife' trying in vain to push him off her. He pulled away, "Don't do anything stupid." He muttered before turning back to the crowd.

"Mrs. Trepe, how did you meet Mr. Leonheart?" A reporter asked. They both froze, turned to each other, and then back to the crowd in an awkward silence.

Squall cleared his throat. "You must excuse her, she's a bit tired from last night's _activities_, if you understand what I'm getting at. Please excuse us, I believe I see out limo." As he took her by the hand and pulled her through the crowd to the black limo he had, indeed, spotted in the midst of the crowd; she _knew_ women were glaring at her in pure envy.

"What do mean 'activities'?" She hissed angrily, "I've got a reputation as an instructor!" He said nothing but opened the door and pulled her inside of the limo.

She watched in silence as he pulled out a cell phone, and punched in some numbers. "Irvine?" He asked. Silence. "Yes, I realize this is all over the news. No, this wasn't planned. Shut up for a minute. Good. We got drunk and got married some how. No, I do not want a public wedding. Just get me some divorce papers, all right?" He sighed, for a moment and turned to her. "What do you want?" He asked.

She looked at him confused. "What do you mean what do I want?"

He sighed in exasperation. "Money?" She stared blankly at him. "It's a divorce, you must want something out of this." He explained.

She shook her head. "I just don't want to be married anymore."

He stared at her in confusion for a moment before turning back to his phone. "She doesn't want anything. No, that's what she said. Now about the forms -" He narrowed his eyes. "What do _mean _it will take 50 days? You're my manager, do _something _about it. ...Screw you." He flipped the cell phone shut angrily.

"50 days?" She repeated slowly. He nodded, and turned to the driver and nodded. The driver nodded from behind bullet proof glass and started the car.

He said nothing, so they sat in silence the whole way there. The limo was very elegant to say the least, with black leather seats and what she was pretty sure of being a fridge...? The scenery passed by quickly and they soon pulled up in front of a large mansion.

Squall got out first, and raised an eyebrow at her. She took the hint and got out, almost stumbling over her own feet in the process. He opened the gates to his huge house and frantic beeping went off, he calmly walked over to a security panel and punched in a few buttons, and then went to open the actual home door.

She quietly followed him into the foyer. A huge foyer, that was, decorated with various, expensive portraits and photographs. Quistis looked when she heard scratching against the floor, and a big dog same bounding towards then clumsily skidding to a stop in front of them. It looked like a German Shepard/collie mix.. or something along those lines.

The blonde heard her 'husband' sigh, "Rinoa, come get your dog." He managed to grit out, angrily. She quirked an eyebrow, Rinoa? What, he was married or dating, too? She frowned, that would just figure. Knowing her luck, she got married to someone who was _already _married.

She let out a small sigh of relief, when a petite girl with blonde-streaked raven hair in a maid outfit scrambled down the steps followed by another female maid with light brown hair. "Sorry, sir." She said, giving a please-don't-kill-me? smile. "He must have gotten out on his own."

"He _is_ pretty smart." The other girl piped up, taking Squall's jacket from him. "Oh, hey, who are you?" She asked Quistis, cheerfully. "Squall brought home a girlfriend? Whooooa." She turned to the raven-haired girl, grinning. "We thought you'd stay single for ever!"

"Selphie." Squall grit out in a warning voice. She shut up immediately. "Give her a tour, Rinoa, tell the cooks to make lunch." The girls watched as he left for the huge winding staircase.

"Yes, sir." The mock saluted him when he left. They turned back to the blonde, "Are you a writer, too?" Rinoa asked.

Quistis shook her head, "No, I'm an instructor."

"Oh, well come on then." Selphie said grinning, taking her hand and leading her through the house.

"This is the kitchen, it's kinda big and it's easy to get lost in. The cooks get mad if you go in when they're cooking so don't go in when they do." Rinoa said, after returning from telling the cooks to make lunch.

"Oh, oh. Here's the living room!" Selphie said giddily, leading her into a huge dark green room with large couches and huge fish tank in the wall. "Next," She said, leading her up the stairs, "Is the bedrooms."

Quistis paused for a moment, looking at a room they missed. "What about down there?" Both Selphie and Rinoa paused.

"That's his writing room. Don't go in there, he gets really mad if you do!" Selphie explained, leading her up the stairs.

"Okay, let's see... there's the bathroom, and there, and there...." The raven haired girl said pointing at random rooms, along with guest bedrooms. "There's Squall's room, and this," She pointed out at the end of the hallway, "Is my room and there," She pointed to the room beside it, "Is Selphie's."

"Oh, there's the pool! I totally forgot about that." Selphie exclaimed, slapping the back of her head sheepishly. "It's down the hall-"

"LUNCH!" Someone yelled from downstairs.

"Oh, lunch's ready already?" The raven haired girl asked; as walked to Squall's room and knocked on the door. "Sir? Lunch is ready." She turned to Quistis and Selphie, "He'll meet us down there, let's go."

"Kay." The brunette said smiling, leading the blonde back downstairs. "Here's the dinning room. Big, huh?" The blonde knew even if she wasn't hung over she'd have the same reaction of just staring.

"Wow." She finally managed.

"Ah, madam, please sit." A man said from across the room. "Lunch is being served, where is the he?" The man sighed, putting a hand to his head. "He's always late. I make lunch and this is what I get - no attendance!" He said angrily, throwing his hands up in the air.

As if on cue, Squall walked in stoically and sat opposite of her. If someone had told her a week ago, she would be married to a famous millionaire author and eating lunch with she would have told them they were crazy.

The cooks brought out some sort of expensive chicken dish and she looked up to see his maids waiting at the brunette's side. "Aren't you going to eat with us?" She asked, somewhat confused. She was an instructor, she couldn't grasp the rules of being rich at all. What so ever, and was completely confused when Squall gave her a are-you-stupid look and then resumed eating.

The maids gave her weak smiles, and gestured for her to go back and eat. "We eat later," They told her.

The rest of the meal was in complete silence. Awkward silence, that it, until finally she spoke up.

"Thank you for the meal, but I need to get back to Balamb soon. If you can fax the divorce forms to me, I'll sign them. Then we can clear this whole mess up. Do you have a phone I can use? I'll call a cab."

"You can't leave," Squall said coldly, from his seat. Everyone stared at him. "If you go back to Balamb now, and tell the headmaster what happened do you think he'll still want to hire you knowing you got drunk and ended up married? Headlines will go up bashing us both and none of us will be able to get a career afterwards. Just stay here, we'll act married for however long it takes to get the forms and then you're free to go."

She stared at him, disbelievingly. "If there was another way of getting the forms with out going through my agent, it'd be done already. Don't get any ideas about me _wanting _you here. I don't give a damn about you." He said coldly, getting up. "Rinoa, get her a room."

Quistis was silently fuming when he left the room. "Asshole." She muttered, she surprised herself by saying that, usually she was a docile person.

And all he did was glare.

Well I hope that was a good beginning chapter. I'm not too sure about anyone's personalities, really. I haven't played FF8 since... urgh the summer and I'm kinda out of it. I've decided I'm going to do previews of the next chapter in this fic, so here it goes.

"Act like husband and wife, the reporter's going to be here any minute!" Selphie said, practically throwing a horrified Quistis on an extremely calm Squall. Well practically throwing wouldn't be an exaggeration, because she landed on top of him awkwardly, gripping his shirt in an attempt not to fall off the bed when she had landed. Squall raised an eyebrow. She went to go move but her bracelet was snagged on the collar of his shirt. She groaned, as she moved her other hand to his neck to un-do the bracelet. "The reporter's going to be here soon," He hissed. "Get off!"

"I can't, I'm stuck." She hissed back.

"Fine, I'll move you by force." He said, moving his hands to her waist. And that's when the reporter came in. They both froze.

The reported raised an eyebrow. There was the famous author's wife... on top of him... straddling him, by the looks of it, with her arms around his neck, and the author himself with his hands on her waist. He sighed, it was going to be a long day.


	2. Interviews

She was still silently fuming from when the author had told her didn't give a damn about her. Sure, she wasn't _exactly _his wife, put that was besides the point. The point _was_, she decided firmly, he was an asshole. A cold-hearted, arrogant asshole, to be precise.

The brunette had gone to 'retire' for the day... at 2:00pm, probably to try and get rid of the hangover. Lunch had ended (to say the least) not well and both had parted ways fuming at each other; she watched the raven-haired girl in front of her leading her to her room for however long she would be here. It was huge, she had no doubt she'd need a floor plan to get around in the future, or a guide 24/7. Preferably, she decided, a guide, but knowing her luck she'd have to tough it out.

"Okay," Rinoa announced, smiling. "Here's your room." The blonde nearly fell over in shock. The room, which was light beige and had a various portraits, mirrors, dressers, cabinets, (not to mention the huge queen sized bed in the middle) was bigger than her whole dorm and class room combined.

"You...sure?" Quistis asked unsurely, raising an eyebrow; watching the other girl. Rinoa turned to her, and nodded firmly.

"Yep. There's a bathroom over there, and the closet's over here." She said gesturing to a set of doors to the right, before walking over to them and opening them revealing a huge closet. The instructor walked over to it and looked inside, and nearly did a double-take.

There was no way in hell, she would need all that room, she thought dryly; which brought her back to the subject of clothes. She felt somewhat like a prisoner, questioning whether it would be all right to go back to Balamb to at least get her clothes. Groaning, she realized she'd actually have to face him again to ask, which she did _not_ want to do.

It was then door shut, she realized Rinoa had left and she was alone in the huge room. Frowning, she decided it was _too _big for her liking, it made her rather uncomfortable being in such a large space all alone. However, that was the least of her worries now that she was stuck in such a predicament.

Even people in Balamb probably knew by now, that the resident instructor had mysteriously managed to get married to a famous author over the weekend. She groaned, burying her face in her hands; what would her colleagues and her students think... what would her parents think! Her self respect point dropped about 100 points, and was now, most likely in the negative range.

The blonde flopped onto the bed with as much dramatic flare as a worm could manage if it had been stomped on several times. What would she do about her job? Call in sick for exactly 50 days? That wouldn't work, they'd know she was married and think it was an excuse not to come into work. She could... quit? Even just the thought of leaving her beloved job made her want to catch the next train back to Balamb even if she was called names for the next century.

She wondered vaguely, if people were trying to call her at home, wondering where the hell she was. Well, they probably _did_ know, recalling all the press at the hotel, but that was besides the point. Her hangover was getting worse, as she moved her face from her hands to the pillow.

One day at a time, that was how she would take it, she decided as she fell asleep to have a cat nap after setting her watch to wake her up in precisely two hours. As she planned, two hours later, she got up, blindly stumbling around to hopefully find her the bathroom in her room without getting lost. Hopefully, a shower would both wake her up and get sober.

o o o

It was around about 5pm when was Squall lazily flipping channels on his huge plasma TV, before finally sticking to one and staying there. "Yes. You've heard right, ladies. Squall Leonheart, the author of the best-selling series, 'Griever' is no longer bachelor - he's married." The woman on the news said. "After being spotted with a blonde woman at the famous hotel, "The Blue Bird"; he admitted to getting married to her the previous night. However, no one seems to have ever heard of this 'Quistis Trepe' to whom he got married to." The picture to the right of woman was enlarged to show him and the blonde at the hotel. In large red circles, their wedding rings were indicated.

Squall looked down at his hand, he hadn't even noticed he _had_ a wedding ring, never mind had been wearing it the whole time. He considered taking it off for a brief moment, but decided not to since the press would notice immediately.

"The press is currently trying to figure out who this mysterious woman is. What we _do_ know so far, is that Mr. Leonheart has not married another author, but in fact, a citizen. Now we go to..." Squall groaned this was everywhere now. The screen switched to a woman with long brown hair.

"In limited footage we have Mr. Leonheart, it is expressed that he loves his wife very much, even though she is obviously camera shy. Polls say this new marriage will boost his popularity rates through the roof if the marriage goes well." Squall raised an eyebrow in interest. This could be going somewhere for him.

Coincidently, as he turned the television off, the phone starting ringing. He eyed it suspiciously, hoping it wasn't a mad, rabid fan girl of his; before picking it up. "Hello? ... Deling news station... Yes, I believe my wife and I would be interested in an interview." He hung up the phone with an uncharacteristic smile, left his room, and walked towards his wife's room.

Squall, being Squall, decided no knocking was necessary, walked into the room with no warning. It was after he entered, he came the conclusion it was a bad idea on the account of two reasons. One, his 'wife' apparently was a docile person... when it came to anyone **but** him, with him she was had quite the temper. Secondly, she was in a towel. Period. As in, that was it, and to him, she looked incredibly pissed off.

He froze for about a second, shrugged it off, then sat down on the bed. "Deling news is coming tomorrow for an interview-" SMACK. Now, he was pretty sure he got hit with a nice, fluffy pillow, but combined with his wife's upper arm strength, the nice, fluffy pillow might have well been a brick.

"What?" He grit out, glaring at her, and to her credit, she glared back just as harshly if not worse. Ohhhh. He got it. "I've seen you in less." He muttered to himself, it wasn't a pillow this time. Instead, she kicked him off the bed. Quite literally. With a thump, he landed, and glared at her all the while.

He got up quickly (and somehow, even though she wasn't sure how the hell he did it, but to his credit, dignifiedly), and glared at her. "Get out." She hissed, clutching the towel with hand and pointing to the door with the other.

Squall looked from the door, to her, to the door again and back to her. "Fine." He mumbled. Yes, she had won the battle, but he'd be damned if he let her win the war. He left the room, thought for a moment, and turned around. "Be in the lobby in 20 minutes." He instructed before he left.

He sighed while walking through the hallway. "Ohhhh, Squall got kicked out." He heard Selphie managed to wheeze out through fits of laugher. His eye twitched in annoyance.

"I think he's finally met his match." Rinoa agreed from where her and Selphie were conversing, back near the end of the hallway.

Squall rolled his eyes, and walked down the staircase calmly. "Whatever." He muttered, clenching his fists. She would _not _walk all over him, he vowed stubbornly. He paused for a moment, calling up to his maids. "Make sure she gets down in here." Now, from any other person's mouth that wouldn't have sounded threatening, but from Squall it was his _or else _tone of voice.

Now he as a very precise man, as in, he actually timed how long it took her to come down to greet him. 19 minutes and 28 seconds, to be exact. He looked up from his seat and decided the maids had probably rushed her since she still had wet hair.

She shot a glare at him before sitting down opposite of him. "There's a reporter coming tomorrow for an interview." He announced calmly, ignoring her glare. "We can't wing it like today; they'll know something's up."

"That's why we're here." Selphie said, popping up being Quistis, nearly giving her a heart attack. Rinoa who had walked in normally, instead of trying to scare people; nodded.

"Sir, I'll give you questions the reporter might ask, and you two will have to know the answer together, okay?" They nodded, despite the obvious grudge that had formed in less than 10 hours.

"Ready?" Selphie said, plopping down beside the blonde. Again, they nodded.

"Alright, where did you meet?" The maid asked, watching the two intently.

The blonde opened her mouth to speak, but Squall beat her to it. "Bookstore." He said, leaning back, shooting her a smug smirk that made both maids gawk in surprise.

"A bookstore?" Rinoa repeated, curiously. "Okay, how, though?"

"Alright. She was looking at my book and wanted to know more about the author, and she though I was a worker there and asked me -" Selphie then choose to butt in.

"Then they hit it off!" She said, winking. Both Squall and Quistis groaned.

"Next. How long had you been dating before he proposed?" Selphie asked, before leaving the room.

"8 months." / "6 months." They said at the same time.

"8 months, it is, then." Rinoa said, taking the blonde's side. Selphie who had returned from her short trip to get some bottle of water, nodded.

Squall rolled his eyes at the woman obvious liking to the blonde, while sipping from the bottle of water.

"First kiss?" The petite brunette asked.

He promptly choked on his water and Quistis looked up startled, while the maids stared. "What? They might ask you!" Selphie defended herself, crossing her arms.

Before Squall or Quistis could even open their mouths in an attempt to answer, Rinoa beat them to it. "In the rain."

"Fine." Squall muttered. Quistis was still trying to register _why _they were asking about kisses, when they had gone onto the subject of how he had proposed.

"In the garden." Squall muttered quietly. The blonde perked up a bit, they had a garden...? "After the award ceremony last month." He got up, "That'll be fine for now. He said it would be a short interview." He turned to the blonde. "Go to bed." She watched as he left the lobby and went to his own room.

Selphie flopped down next to her. "For once, I think I'd agree. You don't look too good. Need help finding your room?" She asked, Quistis shook her head.

"I think I can manage, thanks." She gave them a small wave, following the same route Squall had followed. It took her a few tries of walking into empty guest rooms, but finally she found her own. She sighed in relief, and crawled into bed. It had been a long day, and she really wanted some sleep.

o o o

At exactly 9 o'clock in the morning she was shaken awake, not called or even poked. Shaken, then dragged across the hallway in a sleepy state. "What? What's going on?" She managed to get out between yawns, as looked to her offender that had woken her up so abruptly, Selphie.

She heard two voices coming from downstairs, Rinoa and a man's whom she was assuming was the reporter. "Hurry, hurry." Selphie said, "You need to make it look like you slept in there!" The blonde stared blankly at her then slowly raised an eyebrow in confusion, while shuffling towards the room. The brunette sighed, before yet again trying to explain in a hurried rush, while opening the door to Squall's room.

"Act like husband and wife, the reporter's going to be here any minute!" Selphie said, practically throwing a horrified Quistis on an extremely calm Squall. Well practically throwing wouldn't be an exaggeration, because she landed on top of him awkwardly, gripping his shirt in an attempt not to fall off the bed when she had landed. Squall raised an eyebrow. She went to go move but her bracelet was snagged on the collar of his shirt. She groaned, as she moved her other hand to his neck to un-do the bracelet. "The reporter's going to be here soon," He hissed. "Get off!"

"I can't, I'm stuck." She hissed back.

"Fine, I'll move you by force." He said, moving his hands to her waist. And that's when the reporter came in. They both froze.

The reported raised an eyebrow. There was the famous author's wife... on top of him... straddling him, by the looks of it, with her arms around his neck, and the author himself with his hands on her waist. He sighed, it was going to be a long day.

Selphie and Rinoa, who were behind the reporter, look genuinely impressed. "Good acting." Rinoa said in awe, before closing the door and leaving with the other maid.

The reporter stared in ..., well _he _wasn't even sure what he was staring in? Confusion? Surprise? The point _was _the reporter stared... and Quistis and Squall stared back. Finally, as if something had clicked or there had been some sort of neon-sign that said in bold letters: You are STRADDLING Squall Leonheart - GET OFF. **NOW**, that was only visible to her; Quistis got off in a frenzied hurry and scrambled to the other side of the room, glaring at Squall all the while; who in turn gave her the you-are-my-happy-loving-wife-by-God-you'd-better-act-like-it look.

The reporter coughed nervously. "Sorry for interrupting." He apologized.

"It's all right," Squall said, turning on the I-can-charm-anyone-despite-I'm-actually-a-cold-hearted-bastard smile, thing, whatever it was, the reported fell for it. "We can talk in the living room." He got up, walked toward Quistis, put a hand on her waist and practically dragged her to the living room. The reporter followed, obviously uncomfortable with the new situation.

After what seemed like 20 sets of stairs to an annoyed Quistis; they finally reached the end of the stairs, and walked over to the huge living room. She struggled to not look amazed at the large flat fish tank that was embedded in the wall. Lots of colourful, tropical fish swam and caught her interest; before having to turn back to the reporter.

Squall sat flopped down the couch, patting a spot beside him for his wife. The blonde, sat beside him, and waited for the reporter to sit down opposite of them. It was one of those awkward silences that wasn't supposed to happen. "Excuse me, Sir?" Rinoa popped her head in, "Does anyone want anything?" The blonde silently thanked the maid for her intrusion.

"Water, please." She said, with a small smile.

"Me too." Squall said, leaning back into the cough. He turned to reported, "Anything for you?"

The reporter waved. "Uh, no thanks." Rinoa nodded and left quietly. "So," He said, pulling out a note pad. "I guess I'll introduce myself. I'm Nida from the Deling News station. I'll be quick for this interview, don't worry." The 'married' couple nodded.

"All right, let's see. So I understand you were married the other day. Now, did your wife take you name or keep hers?" He asked, getting a pen ready.

Both looked at each other rather stupidly for a moment before turning back to the reporter. They hadn't though of _that _question. However, Quistis finally realized this was probably looking bad so decided to answer the question on her own terms. "I kept mine."

Squall's head snapped around to her direction, and immediately gave her the what-the-hell-are-you-thinking-you-are-so-dead-once-this-guy-is-gone-look. She ignored that, and turned to the reporter who was frantically scribbling down the answer.

"Now, Ms. Trepe; I've heard from people that you're a local instructor in Balamb. Do you plan on continuing your career now that you're married a millionaire?" Squall raised an eyebrow, she had never mentioned anything about being a teacher but then again, he had never asked.

"No." Squall said simply.

"No?" The reported echoed, obviously confused; while jotting down the answer.

"What?" Quistis managed to get out while struggling not to go over to her husband and kill him. Nida turned to the blonde then back to Squall in confusion.

"Sorry, she's a bit touchy about the subject." Squall explained, pulling her close to him.

"Touchy?" She hissed quietly to him while the reported was scribbling down answers. "I'll give you touchy -" She threatened, Squall blinked in surprise. She was docile and kind to everyone else... maybe he was excluded from that rule. "I plan on going back to my job whether you like it or not-"

The reporter had finished and looked back expectedly at the two; while she opened her mouth to continue the quiet but heated argument. Squall grit his teeth in annoyance, he needed to shut her up, and quick before the reporter noticed they were arguing.

God, he was going to get hell for this later, but better her being mad at him then the press finding out. He grabbed her and pulled her against him before kissing her, he knew the reported was staring and frankly, didn't give a damn.

He moved his hands to her back to keep from pulling away and/or hitting him, it would obviously look bad if his 'wife' whacked him. Squall finally decided to pull away and mouthed 'we'll discuss this later. Now go along with it.' He turned to the reporter, "Sorry, she's just irresistible." The brunette just barely caught his 'wife's' surprised expression, as it only lasted about a split second.

"Ah, I see." Said Nida, "You must love her very much. Now, how long had you been dating before you proposed, Mr. Leonheart?"

Squall turned to him, "8 months, we met at a bookstore in Balamb. She was looking at one of my books and wanted to know more about it, and she asked me; I suppose she thought I was a worker there." He faked a laugh, and casually place an arm around her shoulders which made the urge to kill him even stronger in her mind.

A soft clinking noise alerted them that Rinoa had returned with the drinks and had left as quickly as she had came. Squall pinked up his drink and swirled the straw around and took a drink, while Quistis had too seconds later.

"I realise you've only been married two days now, but have you thought about children?" The reaction, of course was unexpected.

Both, surprisingly, at the same time; had choked on their drinks; and started coughing. The reported stared, then blinked, then resumed staring. Finally, they stopped coughing and then looked at the poor man as if he were mad.

"Sorry. I guess it's too soon to ask, huh?" They both nodded slowly, at least agreeing on one thing. "Anyways, about the charity ball coming up, you are expected to receive an award for your series, Mr. Leonheart - do you plan on taking you wife?"

"Of course," Squall replied smoothly. " I realise she's not too accustomed to the stardom, but I defiantly not leave her at home."

The reporter scribbled down the answer. " I see. Now, what about your honeymoon; where you plan on spending that?"

Before Squall had even attempted to answer, Quistis had beaten it to him, turned to him and grinned smugly before turning to the reporter. "Windhill." She stated plainly.

"Windhill?" Both men echoed in disbelief.

"Yes. It's over near Timber and Deling, over the mountains." She explained. They continued to stare. "Near the ocean?" She asked trying to jog their memories; they looked at her blankly.

"Alright, anyways -" A few series of beeps cut the reporter off, he looked down the his belt were a pager was. He picked it up, and examined it before standing up. "Uh, I'm really sorry, but I've got to go. My manager needs to see me, he'll contact you before posting anything so don't worry." He said sheepishly.

Squall stood, pulling his 'wife' up with him. "Thank you for the interview. I'll see you out."

"Nah, it's alright. I can find my way out." The man said, waving before he left, never the less even after his refusal Squall followed him out and they waved like he happy married couple everyone believed them to be. However once the door shut, hell broke loose.

"What the hell were you doing? The press doesn't _want _to hear that you took your own name, that we're going to some place no one's ever heard of for our honeymoon!" He hissed, before letting out a sigh and flopping down on the couch, and even _that _have off angry vibes.

"Too bad." She said immaturely, sitting down next to him. "What have I gotten myself into?" She mumbled quietly.

"I don't want some country girl who can't dance attending with me." Squall sighed, frowning, watching the fish. The blonde sat up straight at the comment.

"Take you maid then." She snapped, standing up, glaring.

"I _would _if I weren't married to _you_." He snapped back, angrily.

"I hate you." The blonde hissed, rather stubbornly, chiding herself for her immature behaviour; as she walked away from him.

"Like wise." He yelled back.

Selphie sighed, "At least they agree on _something_."

o o o

Well, that was eight pages of written crap. Oh well. Pretty long boring, and let's not forget the ever cliche walk-in-on-someone-in-the-their-towel-scene. Right, so here's the chapter three preview:

"Now's the moment you've been waiting for, the most celebrated author award." The crowd went silent abruptly. "The nominees are as follows..." Squall tuned out until it came to his own name. The crowd erupted in cheers. "Okay, okay. Calm down." The announcer said, moving her arms to indicate silence.

"And the winner for the most celebrated author of the year, is none other than Squall Leonheart, the author of the best-selling series, Griever!" The announcer said loudly, the crowd cheered loudly. "Congratulations to the newly-wed! Now, according to the host, the first dance of the night belongs to the newly-wed couple.

"Shit." Squall mumbled under his breath; standing up pulling his wife up with him. "Don't screw this up." He whispered in her ear.


	3. Waltzes

And the Quall starts in this chapter - enjoy. 

Yes, the evening had started off with flying colours. Sarcastically, of course, that is. Selphie and Rinoa remained staring in opposite directions as either the 'happy couple' had yet again - stalked off to their separate rooms.

"They're going to need a lot of marriage counselling." Selphie whispered. Rinoa groaned and smacked her forehead.

This was not going well. At all. What so ever. Squall sighed, the stupid ball he had _already _told the reporter he was going to _with _his wife, was something he could not get out of - even if he tried, and by God, he had. There was no way out of this. He groaned. Damn.

That meant he had exactly three options consisting of: 1) Fake his death 2.) Hire a double that could dance, and looked like her; ditch her; and hope to God no one noticed 3) ...or teach her to dance.

...God help them both.

He could do this, dammit; he decided, firmly. He was a billionaire; he was great with reporters, despite his actual I-really-couldn't-give-damn-about-you-if-I-tried personality. The ball was two days away, and he would _not _be made a fool of.

Squall shifted and turned to the clock in his room, and glared at it. It really wasn't the clock's fault, and it was rather stupid staring at it, but he had nothing better to do; okay, well fine; he did. He could have continued writing the sequel to his series, but quite frankly, he didn't want to.

11:00pm, the lights were off, and surprisingly everyone was asleep. He sat up, and ran his fingers through his hair. Not anymore, he decided getting up. Usually, he was up at night anyways, writing various chapters; never getting more than around 4 hours of sleep a night. However, he was more than used it.

The brunette stretched, and got up off his bed, and left for his wife's room. It was somewhat tricky navigating in the pitch black windy rooms, but he found his way. Now, if one of the maids had seen him, cautiously - yes - cautiously, open the door - they would have passed out then and there. Not like the dramatic 'catch me - I do believe I will faint' faint, no, it would have been one of those 'What the hell?' faints. The kind that make you stare more than usual faints.

He could afford to look stupid after his last encounter of entering her room without knocking. Squall peaked in for a second to confirm she was actually asleep and didn't pose a threat before entering. Good, she was asleep. Now, getting in without killed was only half the 'mission', the other half was waking her _up _without getting killed. That would be difficult, he decided, crossing to the other side of the room.

Tilting his head, he stared at her; she looked so relaxed, well not even so much relaxed - maybe he thought she looked relaxed just because she didn't look like she would kill him right then and there. Walking over, he sat down on the bed next to her and studied her for a minute or two. He wasn't _as _annoying when she was asleep, he noted, maybe he could even tolerate her when she was asleep. ...Maybe.

Now, he didn't have a clue in hell _why _he did it, but he found himself reaching towards her and brushing her bangs out of her eyes. She stirred slightly and he froze in panic, but soon she relaxed again, he sighed quietly in relief. He leaned down to her to wake her up.

It was as he was about an inch from her face she woke up. Talk about bad timing.

Now as much as Squall would have loved to admit he was brave, he sure as hell wasn't. He stared at her, and she stared back, and blinked. Once, twice and then screamed, well attempted to anyways. To his credit, he had quick reflexes; he reached over and quickly placed a hand over her mouth.

"Don't scream. It's me." He told her quietly, she frowned and waited a moment to confirm it was him before nodding. Slowly, and cautiously removed his hand.

"What you doing? Trying to molester me or something?" She accused, whispering.

"What? No." He snapped, getting up.

"Then what were you doing?" The blonde asked, eying him wearily.

"Nothing." Squall said, crossing him arms. "Get up."

She stared at him a moment, crawling back under the covers and burying her face in her pillow.

"Don't make me drag you there." he said, with his 'I'll-do-it-if-I-have-to' voice.

"Go back to bed." She mumbled. "I'm not getting up, especially not for you."

Squall stared at her for a moment, before rolling his eyes. Fine, he'd have to do this the hard way. He reached down, and in one quick tug he pulled the blankets out of her grasp. She sat up abruptly and glared at him. "What was that for?" She hissed.

He stared at her blankly, before moving towards her. "What are you doing - hey, get back-" Too late, he had already grabbed her and was carrying her to the stair case - with her protesting the whole way down until he finally deposited her at the bottom of the stairs.

"What's so important you have to get me up in the middle of the night?" She asked frustrated, rubbing her eyes. "I expect an answer or else I'm going back to bed." That was Squall's first encounter with her 'instructor's voice', and it would not be the last.

"Dance lessons."

Despite being half-asleep she managed to raise an eyebrow at him; "What? You must be joking. It's the middle of the night, I told you already, go to bed." She said, smirking. His expression told her otherwise. "Fine, then _Mr. Leonheart_, who's my teacher?"

"Me." He said simply, she stared at him with disbelief.

"I really _am _going back to bed now, then." The blonde stated leaving for the staircase. He sighed, that was one stubborn woman; being taller than her, he reached her with a few quick strides; and grabbed her hand.

'Let go." The blonde said threateningly. He didn't, and proceeded to drag her down the hallway.

"This ball is in two days. I don't want to look like an idiot. If we practice now, and don't screw it up later, I'll leave you alone. All I'm asking is for however long you're here, you'll do a few interviews, a charity event or two and that's it. Then for free to go do whatever the hell you want, and we'll never see each other again. It's as easy as that." He lead her into a darkened room, and flicked on the lights.

It was huge ballroom, with the whole nine yards; marble floors, chandeliers, a balcony - you get the picture. He raised an eyebrow and she stared at the large room in awe. Finally, she turned to him. "I don't get it, you're a billionaire; why are you teaching me and not hiring someone?" She asked quietly.

"Look, if you're going to embarrass yourself, you might as well do it in front of me and not some dance teacher that might tell the world," He said coolly, before walking in front of her; taking her hand, and placing a hand at her waist. "There whole thing is going to be an arranged waltz." She looked somewhat startled when he had suddenly moved closer to her. "Waltzes go in three steps."

He took a step backwards, pulling her with him. "One." Hesitantly, she placed her hand on his neck for support; as they stepped sideways. "Two." He moved backwards again, and she followed him a bit more confident this time. "Three."

"One." They were getting a bit more synchronized this time around. Forwards, he felt her grip his hand a bit more tightly as he lead her around the dance floor. "Two." Backwards. "Three." Forwards, she found herself getting lost in his eyes; in her defence, they were incredible greyish-blue and easy to get lost in.

"One." Backwards, their eyes were now locked, and even though she willed herself desperately to look at something else, for some reason she couldn't. No, no, no, no - she hated him, no way in hell was getting lost in his eyes, she screamed at herself silently. "Two.."

And yet despite the deep hatred she had she couldn't seem to move when he leaned closer to her. It was in slow motion, when it finally registered in her head what she was going to do.

Oh shit, no way in hell he was going to -

She was mentally hyperventilating. No, no, no, no - this was _not _going to happen. He was getting closer to her lips and she was anything but comfortable. And the only thing she could do was, well - nothing. She squeezed her eyes shut, but what she had expected never came. Instead she heard him whisper in her ear that she had better do this well on the night of the ball.

The blonde almost passed out in relief. Fine, so maybe she had jumped to conclusions. "Three." Backwards. "One." Forwards. "Two." Backwards. "Three." Forwards. She wasn't sure how long they dance for, but she knew she was getting tired; it was probably past one in the morning and quite frankly - if she had her way - she'd be in bed sleeping.

However, she didn't, much to her dismay. And she had a feeling he wasn't too thrilled about this either; so, the real question was: why the hell were they still there doing something neither wanted to? And so, she broke the cycle; and pulled away.

"I'm going to bed," She said, letting out a sigh. "It will be a lot easier for both of us if you just hire a dance instructor tomorrow." He nodded slowly, if she passed out of something from lack of sleep it wouldn't look good on his part.

"Fine, whatever." Squall said coldly, she nodded and he watched as she left quietly. He sighed, he had a feeling this wasn't going to go well - no matter what he tried.

He stared at the empty ball room floor for a moment before heading up to his room. There was more than a billion women in the world, so why was he stuck with _this _one? The one that loved to annoy him, had never heard of him, not to mention was a bloody _country _girl, he shuddered slightly at the thought; he was screwed over at least a million times, if not more.

_Nooo, _he couldn't have got married to another star, it would be too simple that way, wouldn't it? He was getting a headache, groaning, he went off to his room and laid awake for hours before finally falling asleep.

o o o

A general rule in his house, was that even with out a hangover; Squall Leonheart was not a morning person. He got up on his own accord, no one woke him. Period. He had been known to sleep a whole day straight once, but in his defence, only because he had pulled an all nighter at an award party.

Today, he only slept into around 10 o'clock, a record in his books. He got up lazily, and stumbled to the bathroom, and proceeded to make his way to the kitchen. Despite the lack or sleep plaguing him, he managed to grab a bagel and find his way back to room to contemplate things.

To his delight, he had managed to avoid any and all staff on the way back. Now, he had some thinking to do, and some problems to solve. Firstly, the ball was tomorrow, but he could panic about that after he finished panicking about everything else. There was also another issue at hand, clothes, as Selphie had oh-so-discreetly informed him; and by oh so discreetly, it meant by slipping him a note... which had somehow managed to get from under his door to half way across the hallway into plain oh-hey-a-note-let's-read-it territory. However, that was besides the point.

So in response, he had sent a note back, because talking to them would be too easy, apparently, telling them to take Quistis out clothes shopping. Specifically for a dress, because if she couldn't dance _or_ talk in public, she might as well at least look decent in a dress.

o o o

Now, Quistis Trepe wasn't a big shopper. She was one of these people who went shopping if it was a life or death matter a.k.a no clothes left. Period. She also wasn't a happy camper, not when being dragged out at least. She had been pulled out of bed and had been told to get dressed, and then (again) dragged out to the limo in a half awake state.

She grimaced as Selphie and Rinoa pulled her into a shop where just by one look, knew it was around 80 time out of her league _and _her wallet. By the time she was finally ready to protest, she had at least 20 outfits piled into her arms, and then proceeded to be pushed into a change room.

"Try them on!" Selphie yelled over the music in the background. There was no way of getting out of this - she knew for a fact that both the girls were leaning against the changing stall so there was no hopes of her getting out of it. She sighed, this day wasn't getting off too well.

After around 3 hours of shopping and around 86 different outfits, they were finished. Finally, they were at the checkout, and even though she wouldn't dare admit it - she almost had cramps from pulling off and pulling on so many different articles of clothes.

"So, what do you think of Mr. Leonheart?" Rinoa asked her from their waiting spot in the line.

Quistis thought for a moment - did she mean the answer that was the truth, or the one that was lying saying he was a extraordinary man? She wasn't a great liar, and had no intention of lying. "Well," She sighed, "I've only just met him but... well, to say the least, he isn't prince charming." She said flatly. The raven-haired girl giggled.

"You should give him a chance. He acts like a big jerk, but he'd really not that bad." Rinoa said, trying to convince her, which was just plainly not working. The cash register beeped, and the cashier called for them to come up.

Selphie skipped up happily with the other two girls in tow, who had armfuls of clothing. After scanning them all, and hitting a few random buttons to bring up a grand total, the cashier waited expectedly for a credit card or cheque, and smiled as he recognized them. "Ah, my dears. How are you?"

They both smiled in response. "Good, we just dropped by to get Mr. Leonheart's wife, here some clothes." Quistis inwardly cringed at the word 'wife'.

"Oh my," The elderly man said, peering at the blonde. "Well isn't she quite the jewel. Mr. Leonheart sure snagged a pretty one. Oh yes, here's the total, girls." The poor blonde nearly fainted when she was the total - she could have bought two houses and possible a car for that much.

Selphie handed over a credit card, "Mr. Leonheart's account, right?" They nodded, "All right, then." He swiped the card through the machine, and gave it to them to input the pin number. The petite girl put in the code and the machine seemingly beeped happily as she the receipt came out. "See you girls, take care. Tell Mr. Leonheart I said hello." The cashier called as they left the store.

"Not to be rude or anything, but, uh, how _did _you end up marrying Mr. Leonheart?" Selphie asked out of the blue while they walking to the parked limo. The other two girls stared at her question oddly. They walked in silence until they got into the parked limo, and had shut the door with the slam; it was until then the blonde spoke.

"It was an accident." She said bluntly. The girls gaped at her. She sighed, "My best friend dragged me to this bar for my birthday, I don't recall the name now but, I suppose I got drunk and just ended up with _him_. Please don't tell anyone. I'm just waiting for the divorce papers, and once we get them then I'll go back home."

Silence. The blonde could have sworn she heard crickets chirping for at least ten minutes, and it was a _long_ ten minutes considering it was an awkward silence. "Oh," Rinoa finally said, bluntly. "That explains a lot." Selphie proceeded bang her head against the window.

o o o

Squall sighed, his eyes hurt from staring at the glaring lab top's screen for the past two hours. His fingers hovered over the keys, and he contemplated what drastic twist his novel would take. And then he heard a car door slamming. Correction. Car doors. They were home.

He heard the security device go off in a frantic beeping noise, with a few beeps it was off, and the what he assumed was the front door, was opened. Being in his private writing room, which was conveniently placed near the main foyer, he could heard practically anything that occurred in the other room.

"Do you know how to get to your room yet?" He heard Selphie ask. Squall leaned over the arms of his chair.

"I think I can manage, but getting all these clothes there might be difficult." Squall leaned over a bit further trying to hear the conversation more clearly.

"Don't worry," Squall heard Rinoa state, "I'm sure Mr. Leonheart would LOVE to help." Squall promptly fell off the chair, thankfully in his case, silently. Damn, she always knew when he was eavesdropping on them, somehow.

Nursing both his (now) bruised elbow and ego; Squall sighed and got up, and walked to the other room. Rinoa let out a giggle at his annoyed expression, but quietly, as he was not in a good mood.

"Mr. Leonheart, Selphie and I would help her, but the cooks just called us." Rinoa said, Squall turned the other way and rolled his eyes. Sure they did.

"Whatever." He said flatly, grabbing the bags on the floor, and walking up to the blonde's room while she followed quietly. Once they had entered the room, he set them down on the bed, and turned to leave.

"Thanks." He just barely heard it. Quistis Trepe may have a certain dislike of him, but she was never not polite. Squall said nothing and left, and made his way to the hallway, shutting the door quietly.

He came very close to practically bowling over Selphie in the hallway, he flattened his eyes. "I thought the cooks needed help." He said dryly, watching her expression carefully.

She shrugged, "They have it handled. Besides, there's something important I forgot to mention." Oh great, he thought sarcastically - she's going to tell me the blonde's pregnant or something with my child. And even though he knew fully, it was incredibly early to tell, the thought scared him shitless, to be quite honest.

"We forgot to get the dress." Shit.

"What?" He croaked out. "I give you my credit card to get a dress, and you come back with everything _but _the dress?" She nodded meekly. "Well, go _get_ it." He said coolly.

"Yeah, see, that's the problem. He's probably closed by now." Selphie managed to say.

"I can't leave you to do anything, can I?" He muttered to himself, moving past her and practically almost breaking into a run to get to his car. He turned the key, shifted the gears, and pulled out of his large parking lot to the store.

... Had he mentioned he hated shopping?

o o o

The cashier jumped when he heard banging on the door. He panicked, and hid the money in the till in the safe under his desk. "We're closed!" He yelled, walking over to the door; he went to go point at the sign and squinted at the figure.

"Oh, Mr. Leonheart!" He frantically opened the door to the man. "What brings you here? Miss Selphie and Rinoa stopped by earlier-"

"A dress." Squall grit out, interrupting the elder man's speech.

"Beg your pardon?" The man said, confused.

Squall sighed, "I need a dress for the gir- I mean, my wife. Just give me something."

"What's her size?" Squall paused. Shit, he didn't know that.

" I don't know." He admitted slowly.

"Well, what colour? There's blue, silver, gold, red-"

"Look, I'm in hurry. Please, just find something." Squall grit out, trying to stay calm.

"Alright, alright." The man said, digging through a pile of dresses. "How about this?" He asked, finally pulling out shimmering, blue dress.

Squall studied it for a moment. "Alright, I'll take that." After paying, he set off to find his car and drove home planning various ways to get back at him maids.

He slammed the car door loudly, along with the front door when he got home. "Hello, sir. What did you get?" Selphie chirped once he got in.

The brunette said nothing, but held up the dress carefully, letting the girl study it. "Wow! It's so pretty." She said clapping her hands together. "You two will be the bell of the ball. Go on, go give to her."

Squall frowned, and shoved the dress into her hands; before leaving. "I'm not hiring and make up people for tomorrow, I'm assuming you can at least do her make up if not anything else, right?" He asked coolly before leaving.

o o o

A knock at her door alerted Quistis that she had a visitor. She walked over to the door, and opened it slowly. "Oh, Selphie." She said quietly, before opening the door wider so the maid could come in. "Is Rinoa not coming, too?"

The brunette smiled. "Nah, she's out walking Angelo." She paused for a moment, bringing out a carefully packaged bundle. "Here, it's from Mr. Leonheart, but he was too much of a jerk to give it you himself. It's for tomorrow; but you shouldn't open it now. You should go to bed now, you're gonna be up late tomorrow night, okay?" The blonde nodded slowly.

"Night, Quisty." The girl flicked the lights off as she left.

"Quisty?" The blonde murmured aloud, and she placed the package on the cabinet before crawling into her bed. She took a shaky breathe, it had been a long time since someone had called her that.

o o o

The next morning and afternoon had been a rushed affair, trying to keep reporters out of the house, along with trying to get everyone ready for the events. Squall exhaled slowly, as the cook straightened his tie for at least the forty-seventh time. "Don't worry, keep calm. You're head over heels in love with her, alright?" The man said, Squall nodded. "The award is as good as yours."

Then the hustle, bustle and noise suddenly died. Like, dropped dead, right then and there. Squall looked up, what the hell was going on? Everyone was just staring at the stairwell, he sighed and looked towards it, expecting to see some two headed person or something there, because that was the only logical reason any one would stop and stare so obviously.

What he saw, though, was far from some two headed person. Not much made Squall stop stare, but apparently this, or rather _her _made the list.

Quistis was uncomfortable. After all, who wouldn't be when the whole freakin' house hold was staring at them. She turned to Selphie, "Is there a stain or something?" She whispered, wringing her hands nervously. Selphie smiled and shook her head.

Squall wasn't aware he was moving until he was pushed up to the foot of the stairs, and was practically in front of the blonde as she descended the stair case slowly, and unsurely. She wasn't dressed to be belle of the ball, but she looked elegant enough in just a dress with a sapphire necklace with her hair down; natural beauty at it's best to say the least. "Don't stand there like an idiot," The cook hissed. Now Squall, in a normal situation would have fire him on the dot, but however this wasn't one. "Offer her your arm."

Squall frowned, and walked over to her awkwardly offering her his arm. She stared at him for a moment, until she was gently nudged by Rinoa, and then took it.

The whole house hold let out a collective awe, Squall rolled his eyes and walked her to the door and out to the limo. The got in, and sat in silence as the driver switched gears and pulled out of the parking lot.

Squall sighed, "Look, just keep quiet and this will go fine. If reporters ask you something, just tell them to talk to me." She nodded, trying to not to glare at him. The rest of the trip was spent in silence. It seemed like forever until they reached the award area.

She jumped slightly as a man in a white outfit opened the limo door, she sat there stupefied. "Move, idiot." Squall hissed; she shot him a glare and moved out to all the bright blinding lights which were camera flashes.

He got out with practically a holy light and took her arm, as they walked the red carpet. It boggled her mind that she was here, with a billionaire, walking on a red carpet towards an award ceremony.

"Mrs. Trepe-" One of the reporters stared, Squall frowned slightly at the mention of her name and she inwardly smirked. Squall held up a hand, silencing them instantly.

"I will be answering any and all questions, gentlemen AFTER the award ceremony." He announced as they walked towards the grand hall, the reporters muttered angrily but didn't protest.

After having the invitations checked, they were inside. She knew her neck would hurt the morning from craning it to look at everything until he finally told her not to stare so obviously, to which she ignored.

Soon, an usher to them to their seats in the main row near the stage. "Enjoy yourselves" He said before leaving, and then there was silence. Now usually, she was a patient person, but being crammed between some arrogant writer and about three hundred people she didn't she wasn't giving her that quality at the moment. She was ready to bolt, quite literally; and was practically prepared to, with her arms griping the seat and her legs ready to run.

Squall took one look at her and rolled his eyes, before pulling her back into the seat and putting her hand across her lap to make sure she stayed. She immediately jumped in surprise, and looked at him with utter disbelief. "What are you doing!" She hissed, trying to bat his hand away without getting everyone to look their way.

"Making sure you don't bolt on me." He said coolly, not even bothering to look in her direction.

"Even if I do, it's none of your concern, so take your hand of my leg!" The blonde hissed angrily.

He said nothing, but kept it there. She was about to protest but then the crowd broke out in clapping that she was sure would deafen her. Everyone was watching anxiously for the presenter to start introducing the category and the nominees.

The presenter cleared his throat before beginning, "I'm sure you all know who I am, I'd hope you would." The audience laughed, and Quistis was for once in her life, totally clueless. "I'm the Timbermaniac's producer. That's besides the point though, you know I had this dream about..." The man went on rambling for about him dream for at the very least half an hour, and then went onto announce all the other categories.

Squall immediately tuned out and watched as the camera men sighed, and turned the cameras off until he finished his lecture about his dreams and then turned them on when he started announcing the other categories. Quistis was seriously debating whether to try and get out of there or try to fall asleep. Finally, she decided to tune out until the man got to her 'husband's' category, Squall nudged her until she was back at attention.

"Right, sorry about that. I didn't have my glasses on, I couldn't see the red light back there." The audience laughed again. So, here's the last category of the night." The audience cheered loudly. "Now's the moment you've been waiting for, the most celebrated author award." The crowd went silent abruptly. "The nominees are as follows..." Squall tuned out until it came to his own name. The crowd erupted in cheers. "Okay, okay. Calm down." The announcer said, moving his arms to indicate silence.

"And the winner for the most celebrated author of the year, is none other than Squall Leonheart, the author of the best-selling series, Griever!" The announcer said loudly, the crowd cheered loudly. "Congratulations to the newly-wed! Now, according to the host, the first dance of the night belongs to the newly-wed couple.

"Shit." Squall mumbled under his breath; standing up pulling his wife up with him. "Don't screw this up." He whispered in her ear.

"What?" She hissed, "Who's idea was that to do this dance thing?"

"Be quiet," He hissed. "Just relax, all right? Follow my lead and you'll be fine."

"Okay, now if everyone will proceed to the formal ball room..." The announcer said, as everyone stood to go to the go the ball room. Squall groaned quietly, it meant that everyone would be watching now.

As they walked to the room, Quistis was trying her hardest not to panic. She was fine in front of people - talking, demonstrating, speeches, teaching in general - but not dancing. When they reached the ballroom, it was lit up and the camera crew was already there and filming as the couples arrived.

And then it was their turn, the cameras were on them the second they entered the room. The camera's were practically blinding her and she could hear the commotion about her, it was making her rather nervous. She felt his hand on her waist as he lead her to the middle of room, she let out shaky sigh as the band started up.

"Let's get this over with - don't screw it up." He faked a smile, and took her hand and placed it on his neck, and took the other one in his hand as he lead her through the waltz. He didn't have to tell her the steps this time, she was quick learner and made it look like they had been doing this forever.

The people around her were making her uncomfortable since they were silent as they moved to the left in a circular pattern. As they were going the by the camera crew, he pulled her closer so that she was pressed against him. It was a bit harder to move to move now that she was squished against him, but she still managed to get through the next steps all right.

She was pretty sure they were only dancing for a few more minutes before the other couples joined the dance floor. Soon, the whole dance floor was filled, "Let's go." Squall said quietly, pulling her away from the crowd, to the exit.

He seemed to know the place fairly well since he took her straight to the back exit with no problems. It was around 11 o'clock at night then, and it would have been even later if they had attended the party afterwards.

A cold gust of air came in when he opened the door to the street, he walked quickly to the street corner to his limo and she followed trying to keep up with him. "Do you always have limos?" She asked, raising an eyebrow as they got to the limo.

He said nothing but turned back to her, "Don't be such of an idiot next time."

She looked at him with disbelief, as she caught up to him. "You're such an arrogant-" Something caught his eye and in about the span of half a second he grabbed her he had pulled her against him - and kissed her.

It wasn't one of those this-is-my-wife-I-love-her-kiss, no; this was a this-is-my-wife-whom-I'm-practically-making-out-with-on-my-limo-take-all-the-damn-pictures-you-want kiss. And then the camera flashes went, oh god, she was going to be labelled a slut or something, she just knew it.

Finally, he pulled away and smiled at the camera before opening the door for his wife, like a gentleman. It seemed like forever until they got home, and when they did they went to their separate rooms and didn't say a word to each other.

Squall sighed as he flopped onto his bed and flipped on the TV. "Squall Leonheart and his new wife stirred up the award ceremony with a classic waltz. And his wife, Quistis Trepe, whom kept her own name to the surprise of many, was the belle of the ball with her designer's dress. Mrs. Trepe could not be reached for any interviews, nor could Mr. Leonheart, however, they were spotted by their limo kissing." Squall rolled his eyes as the 'live' footage aired and groaned.

"They are officially the most popular couple, and even Mr. Leonheart's novels have been selling better since him marriage. The search is still on to find out more about his wife, and how the couple got hitched. Now more about-" Squall clicked off the TV and sighed. 48 days and counting.

Okay, so there's the 11 page chapter three, that took forever to write. Urgh, it's not very good either but oh well... All right, just notes and stuff. Okay everyone, big surprise: I'm considering do a Zinoa. That's right Zell x Rinoa. What do you guys think? Secondly, I'd be honoured if anyone added me to the their MSN, but if you are going to or already have, um, the first time you see me on, just tell me who you are or else I'll sit there and like, stare at your name because I'm not very bright. So here's the chapter 4 preview, don't mind the preview, it turned out a bit raunchy for some reason... :

"And the news is in, we have found information on this elusive Quistis Trepe. She used to live in the small town of Balamb, and used to live in residence since she was the top Instructor in Balamb Garden. That's right - a mercenary school." Squall stared at the TV and back at his 'wife', then to the TV again. "And something that will get her fan boys going, yes Mrs. Trepe now has a fan group that will rival her husbands; is the weapon she used to instruct was whip!" He turned to his wife slowly and raised an eyebrow.

The news person made a whip cracking noise, "Damn," The man next to the female news caster said, "Leonheart must have handful with her, in _and _out of bed." Squall promptly fell of the bed.

Just a little note thanks for the all the reviews, I really appreciate it. I know it's a bit early, but my goal for this fic is 100 reviews, I hope we make it. Thanks again.


	4. Galas

To say the previous night had gone off with flying colours would have most likely been one of the biggest lies known to man kind. If their relationship, or lack there of unless you considered the term relationship to include 'only just barely tolerating the person'; wasn't strained enough as it was this had just made it about 9,000 times worse than before.

Oh yes, last night had definitely done some damage. Scratch that, some was an understatement. Both had avoided each other like the plague and went off to their separate rooms for the night.

Until the morning, that is - when she saw the paper. And all hell broke loose, because after all - Quistis Trepe mad - was something one in their right mind would definitely steer clear of, or at _least _try and avoid her. 

Squall didn't see it coming. He didn't even have enough time to even look up in the span of about 3 seconds in which his door was just about knocked off its hinges, and a news paper was thrown in his face. Hard. 

He reached up and practically peeled the paper off of his face. And yet the only thing that crossed his angered mind was that, damn, she had a good arm - but that besides the point. "What the hell was that for?" He grit out, glaring at her.

She said nothing, but even her body language indicated she was furious when she pointed to the front page of the paper which she had thrown at him just previously. He sighed and looked to it and barely concealed a smirk. Oh, yes, the press was definitely having a filed day on this one.

The first thing that caught his eye was the picture of them kissing. Now, this was not a small picture either; it was blown up full size taking up almost all of the paper's front page. Quite literally. He didn't even bother reading the headline because something more important finally clicked in his brain.

He was a dead man. Cautiously, he lifted his gaze to meet her. He inwardly cringed, she looked mad. Incredibly mad. He could just picture the headlines now, 'Squall Leonheart Killed by Estranged Wife'. However, this was Squall Leonheart, who wouldn't (as he had told himself numerous times before), get pushed around by some woman.

"It's the press," He stated dryly, folding the paper neatly in half and placing it on his dresser. "What did you expect with all the flashes going off? For the pictures to just to stay pinned up on the photographer's wall?" He asked coolly.

If her glare hadn't been icy before, it was probably putting the North Pole to shame by now. "I didn't expect being plastered all over the newspaper!" She hissed, trying to calm her rarely active temper.

"Well unfortunately, you're stuck with it, and frankly, I don't give a damn. But for however long you're here, which _hopefully_ won't be long - you're my wife." He looked up and stared her squarely in the eye. "So get used to it."

She stared at him in utter disbelief. "Excuse me?"

He crossed him arms. "We both know the only reason you're here is because you value your job or what ever you do and you don't want to made a fool of." He said bluntly.

She took a deep breath, "I don't understand what people see in you, but all I see is an arrogant man." The blonde finished. He raised an eyebrow, and turned his attention to his television as he turned it on.

The news appeared and she let out sigh, trying to recite things she had taught her students. Well, actually, more like the things she taught them _not _to do. It was evident the conversation had ended, with a disappointing score of Squall: 4 Quistis: 1. It was when she was about half way to the door when she heard her own name, now, even though her mind was screaming 'this is a bad idea' she turned to listen.

"And the news is in, we have found information on this elusive Quistis Trepe. She used to live in the small town of Balamb, and used to live in residence since she was the top Instructor in Balamb Garden. That's right - a mercenary school." Squall stared at the TV and back at his 'wife', then to the TV again. "And something that will get her fan boys going, yes Mrs. Trepe now has a fan group that will rival her husbands; is the weapon she used to instruct was whip!" He turned to his wife slowly and raised an eyebrow.

The news person made a whip cracking noise, "Damn," The man next to the female news caster said, "Leonheart must have handful with her, in _and _out of bed." Squall promptly fell of the bed. She stared at him, and he stared at the TV in disbelief.

Oh, no, it just _couldn't _have been a sword. He groaned, he knew what this meant; all the late night comedy show cracking raunchy jokes about his sex life, probably including randomly kicked around jokes about how kinky a whip could be.

She allowed herself a smug smirk (not have had come to the realization he had just come to yet), that he obviously missed as he was currently wallowing in self pity at the moment. Squall, during those few seconds, picked himself up and was contemplating the recent turn of events.

This could be bad. Being married to mercenary - she'd probably kill him in the night or something. He'd have to keep an eye open from now on, he decided. He groaned, as if it wasn't bad enough before. He had visions of rumours going around saying that he's in the CIA.

Alright, this was bad. However, in the celebrity business, you can turn anything around. He needed something big, and that could put all the mercenary crap behind them so the press could have a field day on whatever the new issue was.

Now, he just needed an idea... or an event. However, there was one major roadblock - there was none: no parties, not galas, no nothing. Okay, fine. He could deal with that. He'd just have to make one.

Squall got up, and quickly descended down the stairs leaving her by herself to collect her thoughts for a moment before following him. She didn't like that tone of voice. Not at all. By the time she had gotten down there, the whole house hold was in a frenzy, and she didn't have a clue what was going on.

She decided there was no point in trying to find him so instead, once she saw Rinoa go by poked her to get her attention. She immediately jumped and nearly dropped the tray she had been holding on to. "Sorry." Quistis apologized immediately afterwards.

The raven haired girl waved it off. "No, no, it's okay." She flashed a smile, "Everyone's just a bit stressed right now. Mr. Leonheart just announced that he'd be holding an open house party in two days. It's just really sudden, no one really saw that coming." She struggled to balance a fairly heavy vase and a pile of napkins on a small silver tray, the blonde gingerly took the vase from her.

"An open house party?'' She asked, surprised. So that's what the tone of voice was for.

"Yeah. It's on Thursday, he just announced it, and the butlers are already calling people." She sighed, "Wow, it's gonna be pretty busy soon."

The blonde nodded in agreement, "Where do you want this?" She asked, shifting the vase between her arms.

"Oh, the living room. C'mon, I'll take you there." Rinoa balanced the tray better this time, as she lead the way weaving in between the butlers and cooks. Quistis just managed to keep up after narrowly running into a frenzied cook. Finally, they arrived into the living room, already swarming with butlers whom were frantically dusting. The blonde set the vase down on the table, as Rinoa set down the tray and placed the napkins around before turning to her. "Thanks so much." She said smiling.

"It's all right." The blonde said, waving it off. The next wave of butlers came in and ushered her out in the process, leaving her in the crowd of people. While trying to get through, she only just barely got a glimpse of her husband and followed him to one of the very few rooms in the house that wasn't packed.

He turned around immediately once they were alone. "Why are you following me?" He asked coolly, staring her down.

"It's not fair making them do everything the last second. You push them too hard, they're only people." She said, staring at him equally as hard.

"You're telling _me_ how to run _my _house?" He asked in disbelief.

"No-" He cut her off.

"Look, you are a small school teacher, you train mercenaries, you've got fan club. This means nothing to me. You can tell me what do, but under no circumstances I will do it." He said icily.

She opened her mouth to reply but got cut off. "Sir, telephone." An butler said, walking into the room.

Squall nodded and left her alone to try and calm herself down.

o o o

Flopping down in his 'office', and picked up the phone gingerly. "Hey, Squall. I heard about the whole mercenary thing," Irvine's voice greeted chirpily, "but, then again, everyone has." The manager allowed himself a small chuckle at his own joke, and Squall rolled his eyes.

"Anyways, we need to get the spot light of your little wife - speaking of which, man, she is hot-"

"I'm planned a gala-" Squall started.

"I mean, really, a blonde. Whoa, you're a lucky little bugger, you could have ended up with some fat-"

"Shut up for a minute, Irvine." Squall gritted out, and waited until there was silence on the other line. "I've planned a gala for Thursday."

"Yeah, yeah, so about the chick-" Squall rolled his eyes and hung up. The phone rang, he sighed before picking it up.

"That's really rude, I mean, seriously, manners a chick magnet. Anyways, so the polls on the web still say that this little mistake you've managed to cram yourself making your popularity hit the roof - Oh hey, Vanessa, baby, you know that other girl was just a mistake-" Squall cringed as he heard an audible smack on the other line, and slowly hung up the phone again.

o o o

It was around 11:30 at night when the hustle and bustle had died down and the butlers and maids had finally gotten to retire to their rooms to take a rest. Quistis was still awake, the sounds of silver ware being dropped, rearranged and the sounds of moving furniture still ringing in her ears.

She wouldn't be getting any sleep here, she knew that much. She slowly walked towards the door, trying to open without a creak or squeak. No avail, it opened with a large creak that she was sure everyone must have heard but instead the only one who heard was a not a human, but a dog.

Angelo had perked up at the sound and had found her in the hallway, it had gave her a fright to see something bounded towards her for a moment before realizing it was only the dog. It skidded to a halt millimetres in front of her, almost knocking her off balance. She allowed herself a small smile, before leaning down to pet it, it barked happily and she quickly motioned for it to be quiet.

Unfortunately for her, it only listened to it's master and continued to wag it's tail and bark. Both her and the dog heard a door open and soft footsteps coming in their direction. Rinoa looked at them both curiously for a moment, before kneeling down to Angelo. "Bad dog, you have to be quiet." She brought a finger to her lips to motion silence and the dogs silenced immediately.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I couldn't sleep." Quistis apologized, for the second time the day, Rinoa waved it off friendly.

"It's okay. I wasn't asleep anyways. You want to talk? Selphie's up too." Before she could answer, Rinoa had taken her by the hand pulled her towards her room. The blonde smiled, it wasn't very often she got to talk to people her age, besides for Xu all the other instructors were old and stuffy.

Angelo followed obediently and they made their way to her room, Rinoa opened the door and gestured for her to go inside. The room was a bit small, but homey; to be honest, if she had had a preference to Rinoa's room and her own, she would have chose the maid's room. Selphie waved happily as they came in. "Hey!" She said, with a grin.

Quistis and Rinoa waved back. "She's couldn't sleep." Rinoa explained, sitting down, as Angelo settled himself on his dog bed in the corner.

"Well, there's always a remedy for that!" Selphie exclaimed excitedly, "Girl talk!" Rinoa nodded in agreement. Somehow, she had conveniently gotten herself in-between a rock and a hard place.

"Okay, okay. First topic, boys." Selphie grinned at Rinoa. "You wanna start Rinny? Anything about any _crushes_?" The girl shook her head vehemently, Selphie gave an all knowing smile, and let out a fake cough; and if you listened hard enough you would have heard 'Squall', covered up by the fake cough sound. Rinoa shot the other girl a glare.

Rinoa looked the other direction, "It's just a little crush," She defended, pouting. "Besides," She smiled shyly. "Its not like he'd ever like me or anything, he's got a fan girls...and I'm just his maid."

Selphie let out a sound of disapproval, and Quistis suddenly felt sorry for the raven girl, for loving someone who might never even like her back. "You shouldn't think that way, on the negative side." She said slowly, looking towards the girl.

"Thanks, but," Rinoa said, she let out a small laugh though. "he's married, now. I'm glad he's with you and not some stuck-up girl. You know, he needs somebody nice like you..." She trailed off.

"You shouldn't give up so easily," The blonde started, "I'm only here until the divorce papers are signed, then I'm going to go home." Both stared at her.

"You're going home...? Why? If you stay here, you'll be like, rich and you'll never have to work or anything." Selphie said, confused.

"I know, but... this place is too big for me." The blonde smiled, "I like my small dorm."

"Well... we'll just have to squeeze in a lot of girl talks in between now and then right, Selphie?" Rinoa said, elbowing the other girl. Selphie nodded in agreement, but her watched stated beeping, signalling mid-night.

"Hate to be a party-pooper, but we have to get up early so maybe we should go to be early, huh, Rin?" The other girl nodded, despite their cheery appearances, both were exhausted from being on the phone, invitations, arrangements, cleaning, dusting ect. 

"How early is early?" Quistis asked curiously.

"5:00." They answered in unison. Wow. She was about to protest about the most likely not getting enough sleep, but they had waved it off and said that they were happy to be of service and that Mr. Leonheart could be, on rare occasions, nice. They had said their goodnights and on the way out, Selphie had stopped her for a moment.

"You know, you look like someone who likes to read," She said with a smile. "Um, I don't really know what genre you like to read, or anything, but, uh, here." The petite brunette handed her a book. "Mr. Leonheart wrote it, he maybe a meanie sometimes, but he writes really well."

"Thank you." She smiled, genuinely. "You should to bed now though, you'll be getting up early." Even outside to school, she was still a teacher.

She walked back to her room, and settled herself down in bed before opening the book. It an action adventure book, the kind that kept you reading until you finished, or so it said. Carefully, she flipped by the publisher's name pages, and started the first chapter. It was about a Sorceress and her knight.

How ironic.

o o o

The next two days flew by, almost literally. Butlers, maids, and designers were frantically rushing around doing last minutes touch ups; and she, well, she was being fitted for a dress. She winced slightly each time the designer poked her with a stray pin. Coincidently, there were a hell of a lot stray pins. She dress was light yellow, with sequence, and incredibly uncomfortable. She had a feeling he hired the worst dress maker ever to design her dress, just to spite her.

"Finished!" The woman exclaimed loudly, tightening the back which made the blonde feel like it was suddenly hard to breathe. She also had a nagging feeling that the dress would come apart at the seams any second now, but ignored it.

Selphie and Rinoa gave her a thumps-up sign from where they were doing last minute checks. She managed to wave back before she was pulled away by the hair people. Half an hour later, she had counted exactly 289 bobby pins had been put into her hair to keep it pinned up; and she was deathly scared that if it fell down, the hair dressers would murder her.

The guests started pouring in a few minutes later, she heard coats shuffling, footsteps, loud talking, and saw at least 128 camera flashes in the span of 10 seconds. The butlers and maids were greeting people, checking invitations, and escorting them to the ball room; and for once in her life, she truly wanted to hide.

The hair dressers and designers were long gone by the time Squall had approached her from behind and taped her on the back. She jumped and wheeled around, nearly tripping on the skirt which was conveniently not hemmed properly. Squall stared, _her _a mercenary? for God's sake, she was bloody spastic.

"Try not to do a face plant." He said dryly, as he watched the last of the guest make their way in.

"Shouldn't you be greeting them?" She asked neutrally.

"Keeps them in suspense," He said coolly. She ignored that comment, but frowned in disapproval. She watched the clock; he waited exactly ten minutes waiting for people to settle in, before leading her to the ball room.

The second they got in there, the room went dead quiet. "Welcome to my humble home," He said smoothly, many of the women laughed, and stared at him. Well, actually, it was more along the lines of undressing them with their eyes, much to the dismay of their dates; but that was besides point.

"I would also like to announce the rumours about my wife are false. There was a misunderstanding in the news report; and the Deling News center has already been notified." Squall announced, various of his female fanciers sighed in relief. She struggled not to roll her eyes, the crowd seemed to buy it though. "Go enjoy yourselves." The blonde heard him say.

The conversation was back again, and the party was in full swing. People were mingling, and butlers were going around offering drinks. It seemed like everyone as having a good time except for her, who was being dragged around and introduced to many people who just viewed her as Squall's new 'accessory'.

"So this is your new wife," They would say; "Isn't she just gorgeous?" She had never felt like ore of a trophy in her entire life, or an accessory for that matter.

It nearly made her roll her eyes as he told them of how they were introduced, and how he had proposed, funny how he never told them the real story. She of course, was forced to nod in agreement, occasionally putting in the odd word or story every now and then, like the had rehearsed.

"Squall," She heard someone call, the brunette turned around to a blonde man in a white tuxedo.

"Seifer," Squall said coolly, the blonde felt him tighten his grip on her a bit. "I didn't see you there."

"Obviously." The other man snipped. "So, this is the infamous Trepe." He said coyly, his gaze lingering on her for a few secondly longer than necessary. "It's a pleasure," Seifer said leaning down to kiss her hand.

Squall raised an eyebrow slightly. Seifer smirked, "Oh, don't tell me you're jealous or little old me? But then again how could you?" He lowered his voice slowly. "You met her less than a week ago, after all; and besides, this is the ice king himself." He watched the other man expression, and laughed. "Don't piss yourself there. I'm not going to tell anyone; this is gonna be fun to watch though." The band started up in the background.

"Let's see how long you guys can keep it for, huh?" Seifer said, grinning, before her turned to Quistis. "May I have this dance?" He asked, bowing to her.

"No." Squall cut in, coldly.

"That's not what her eyes say." He leaned to her ear, "Such a jealous husband you have there." He whispered, taking her hand and leading her to the ballroom floor, while Squall stared in somewhat disbelief and then anger before turning back to the people who were talking to him, even though he had long ago tuned them out.

"Listen, Trepe," Seifer told her, as he lead her through the waltz. She wasn't fond of him and wasn't partial to him at all, but it was probably better than being back and there and getting interrogated. "You've gotten yourself in to a shitty position here. Squall's notorious for using girls, he'll use you for money. He'll tell you he loves you and all that crap just get you to stick around, but when he's done with you, he'll ditch you."

"What?" She asked confused, furrowing her brow.

"Don't trust. He'll use you." Seifer whispered before ;letting go and disappearing into to the crowd.

And it was ironic, because even in a swarming crowd, of hundreds people, she felt more alone than she ever had in her entire life.

Okay 4th chapter done. Sorry it took so long, I had 2 art projects due and art history, plus I re-watching Wolf's Rain again and Full Metal Alchemist and then I got hung up on different couples from the shows.. Hubb/Cher from Wolf's Rain and Roy/Riza from Full Metal Alchemist and got off track because they're cute couples, so yeah... Ahem. So the little Rinoa crush thing probably will tie in, but I will NOT bash Rinoa and this will NOT be a Quifer.

Also, I have changed my user name on Fanfiction . net to Divine Oblivion. I will also have an Live journal dedicated to my fan art and Fanfiction so you guys can have a field day on it. XD

Oh yeah, vote for who you want to be with Selphie and Rinoa. Ie. Zell, Seifer, Rajin or whatever but NOT Squall. Squall's taken. XD Yeah, no chapter 5 preview today, sorry but the next chapter might just surprise you...


	5. Misunderstandings

Okay, first things first, people. I _hated _the last chapter, and I'm sure lots of other people did, too. Apologies to everyone about the OOC Seifer, to start off, if it's any consolation, it made me think, man, she's a crappy writer too, but that's besides the point. Enough rambling from me, here's the next chapter.

The gala had ended long ago, and she sat in her room alone. She sighed, to be precise, the gala had ended around 2 hours ago - and she was still picking out the bobby pins from her hair. Thoughts were running in and out of her head like there was no tomorrow, and yet there were one in particular that stuck.

She knew for a fact, that in the world of stardom, there was manipulation. She had no reason trust either man; Seifer could have been telling her the information to get her to leave Squall, and have the other man's ratings drop. It would make sense, Seifer was one of the many promising authors of the year. Yet, if what Seifer was saying _was _true, and Squall would be tying to manipulate her to keep her around that would make sense. She'd play if safe for now, it had been a week so far, and if what Squall had told her about the divorce papers was true, there was only 43 more days to go.

The blonde decided to give up on the rest of the bobby pins, it was probably a lost cause anyways. She had almost crawled into bed when she heard footsteps in the hallway; she ignored them and tried to fall asleep, until she heard talking.

"You don't seem to understand, Irvine." Squall growled. "Seifer _Alsamy _was talking to her. He just said he'd keep it quiet, and frankly, I don't believe him. If he lets this out the god damn press would never live this down. This _will _not backfire, I'll make sure of it. " He hissed, she heard the phone being slammed down, then along with the door.

"Sheesh, talk about a temper," She heard Selphie mutter to herself outside of her door. The maid poked her head inside the blonde's room, and turned out the lights.

"Selphie?" Quistis asked, before the girl pulled the door shut.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, did I was ya?" The girl asked, stepping inside the room.

"No, it's fine. I was already awake." She paused for a moment. "May I ask you something?" The girl nodded. "Have there been any other women here? Before me? Not maids or servant, any girlfriends or anything?"

Selphie raised an eyebrow. "Why, are you jealous?" She teased.

"No, no. I was just wondering..." She murmured. Selphie sat at the edge of the bed.

"No, sorry. Why?"

Quistis shook her head, she couldn't very well blurt out that some man had told her he used women, could she? She let out a sigh, she'd let it rest for a while. It wasn't any of her concern, she'd be gone when they got the papers anyways. Besides, the were wouldn't be any reasons why he would use either of the maids for any media spotlight.

"Nothing, I was just trying to learn a bit more about him, that's all." She lied.

"Nobody really knows a lot about him to be honest. He doesn't talk very much with us, he usually just tells us what to do and stuff like that." Selphie paused, "How's the book going?"

Quistis started stupidly for a moment and then remember what she was taking about. "It's alright, I'm about half-way through now." She grabbed the book from her night stand and looked at it. "It was pretty popular at my school," She said quietly, "all the girls would read it during class. I always had to tell them to put the books away." The blonde smiled fondly. "I remember a few of the girls were talking about _him_, they asked me if I thought he was handsome. I didn't say anything, I wasn't very interested in the fads or anything back then."

Selphie smiled in sympathy. "I wonder what they'd think if they knew I was married to him." She let a small laugh, "Well, they probably know by now. Everyone knows now." She sighed, "Sorry, I didn't mean to babble."

"It's okay." Selphie chirped. "If you're that curious about him, why don't you ask Rinoa? She knows a bit more than I do, not a lot, but you know..." She trailed off.

"She loves him, doesn't she?" The blonde asked quietly.

Selphie nodded. "Yeah, but she'd never admit it... She's pretty shy, Mr. Leonheart...he's okay, but he's never given her a second thought. We're only maids to him."

Quistis sighed, "I suppose I wouldn't put that past him. He seems like someone who'd look at people like that... I shouldn't jump to conclusions though."

Selphie shook her head, "No, no. Mr. Leonheart isn't a bad person... he's just..." She sighed, trying to think of a suitable word. "Complex."

"Complex?" She repeated slowly, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I mean, I'm sure he's nice, like, nice deep down or something like that. Or at least that's what Rinoa says; but she's really optimistic." Selphie sighed, "I'd better get going." She got up.

As she turned to the door she grinned. "You know, I have a feeling you're gonna be the one to change him." She shut the door and turned off the lights, and closed the door.

The blonde stared at the door for while.

What an odd thing to say.

o o o

It had been a bit awkward to pay the news station thousands to cover up the whole mercenary affair. However, Squall Leonheart was of those people who did anything and everything to make sure everything went his way.

And it always did. He made sure of it.

He sighed, as he clicked his e-mail. A pop up box appeared saying he had 783 new e-mails. He groaned, he checked his e-mail just the other day too. Scrolling down, as he had assumed, almost 3/4 of them were fan letters, letters from fan girls to be precise. The 1/4 of them that weren't fan mail were invitations, promotions and letters from various publishing companies.

The brunette shut the laptop in frustration. This was getting him no where. He got up lazily, and made his way to the hallway. The hall way lights were turned off - it was the perfect get away. He could go out for the night, hopefully avoiding any and all rabid fangirls, and maybe just maybe, enjoy some quite alone.

...And this all might have had a chance of happening, _if _maybe for once in the past week he had a stroke of luck going his way. _If _this is. However, he didn't.

Instead of making the perfect get away he had planned, he just about ran head first into none other than his wife.

Talk about bad luck. Seriously bad luck.

"What are you doing up?" He hissed, glaring at her.

She glared back. "I couldn't sleep."

"I bet." Squall mumbled under his breath. "Go back to bed."

The blonde crossed her arms stubbornly. "Where are _you _going?" She challenged.

He raised an eyebrow at her. She was questioning _him_? "None of your business." He said coolly. She stared at him. "What are you staring at?" He asked defensively.

"Nothing." The blonde said simply.

Squall sighed. "Never mind. If anyone asks, you didn't see me."

"I can't guarantee that." She said. Squall stared at her with disbelief, she just loved pushing his buttons didn't she?

"What _can _you guarantee then?" He asked flatly.

"Not much." She said with a small smile.

"Whatever." Squall muttered, leaving.

She frowned and stared at him as he left. Now that he was out of her way, it gave her some time to do some much needed exploring. Daytime was too busy to even attempt to get around without bumping into various people. Even though she was given a tour, she was curious.

And curiosity always killed the cat.

After skimming by the kitchen and the living room and amazingly not killing herself in the dark, she came upon the ballroom yet again. Maybe it was because she wasn't forced here, or it could have possibly been the fact that had been hung over the last time she had seen it but, it looked even more elegant this time around.

It had probably been the hung over thing, because this time, she noted it even had curtains. Surprise, surprise. Hell, the floor even looked shinier. She sighed, it was starting to occur to her that coming her was probably the second biggest mistake of her life... close behind the first biggest - getting drunk and landing herself here in the first place.

With one last glance, she left heading for her room once again. After stumbling around for while, she found her room. She flicked the light on and sat on the large bed, the book was still on her dresser, unopened.

The blonde stared at it, and sighed in defeat before picking it up. At least it gave her something to do. The next sevens chapters went by quickly and she found herself reading one of the most used cliches known to man kind. You know, the usual - the damsel in distress that can amazingly never even attempt to try and defend herself, and the knight in shinning armour who just happened to make the damsel fall madly in love with him in a split second.

She rolled her eyes; and tried to find where she left off in the book, and might have if the slam of the door hadn't occurred. Fine, he was home, whatever. Then there was thump. She raised an eyebrow, what was he doing down there? Another thump. Then another. She was a bit worried now, it could be robber or something. Yes, she knew she was being paranoid, and she didn't care.

The blonde opened her door and descended down the stairs, and immediately flattened her eyes. It wasn't a robber, or anyone even remotely dangerous.

It was an incredibly drunk Squall. "You must be joking." She mumbled, watching him try and walk in a straight line and miserably failing. She was going back to bed, if he was drunk it was his own fault. Although she admitted watching him just about walk into the staircase railing, she knew if he died in some freak accident involving him drowning in the sink or something she probably wouldn't be able to live with herself, even if he was a complete and total bastard.

He hadn't spotted her yet, but as she walked down the last remaining steps he caught site of her. "Quistis.." She raised an eyebrow; wow - he actually _knew _her name... he probably wrote it on his hand or something.

The blonde sighed, "You're drunk." She said flatly, examining him before she put his arm over shoulder.

"I don't need help," He managed to slur out, blindly trying to get out of her grasp.

"Idiot." She said, clutching on to him. "Come on. Let's get you to your room before you kill yourself." Squall managed to nod.

Great. Just great. Not only had she managed to get married to some rude author, he was probably an alcoholic to boot. It would have probably been easier to drag dead weight up the stairs, because at the very least that would trip as often as he did. It seemed like forever before they got to the top of the stairs, and she vaguely wondered if she acted as stupid as he did when she was drunk.

Now was that hard part, trying to get to the right room without waking anyone up. Frankly, the only rooms she knew were her own, the bathroom and the maid's room. After three or four unsuccessful attempts, she managed to find (what she assumed) was his room. Shifting his weight between her arms, she managed to open the door.

However pushing the door open was different story, all of his weight was on her and she nearly tripped while trying to get him to his bed. She caught her footing, but not quite in time. She tripped over the end board of the bed and managed to land flat on her back. It was humiliating but it would have been a whole lot of better if he hadn't landed on top of her that is.

He literally knocked the wind out of her when he landed on top of her, she struggled to get herself breathing normally again. Squall was making no attempt to get off her but instead moved himself so he wasn't crushing her. "You're beautiful." He whispered.

She nearly laughed, now she knew he was definitely drunk, she grit her teeth and brought her hands up to push him off her. He caught her hands, "What are do-" he kissed her. Her body stiffened in surprise, only momentarily stopping trying to push him off her. It was then, she decided, in the morning - he was a dead man.

Well, actually, it was probably when she had felt his hands under her shirt. Yes. It was probably then, for sure. Her eyes widened in surprise, kissing was one thing, groping on the other hand was another. Both were extremely unwelcome.

She didn't even hear the footsteps. A gasp made Squall pull away, and it was her opportunity to shove him off her.

Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Rinoa stood in the doorway. "Rinoa..." Quistis started, she wanted to tell her how it was all mistake, how he was drunk and yet nothing would come out. The only thing she could do was watch as the other girl fled in the other direction.

Squall had managed to get up after being shoved to the ground, "Quistis.." He was drunk, he didn't have any idea of who he had just kissed, why he had kissed or why he got drunk the first place.

She stared at him for a moment, before leaving. There was nothing she could say, except it would be another thing they would both regret in the morning. Quietly, she shut the door, she could hear sobbing from the maid's room.

Wearily, she made her way back to room and looked around. There was nothing she needed to pack. It was final, she was leaving in the morning. She stared at the book on her nightstand, before putting it in the drawer.

There was no point in reading it anymore - they probably got their happy ending anyways.

o o o

The fax machine beeped before sending the fax.

TO: Irvine

SENDER: Squall Leonheart

FAX NUMBER: 416 920 2249

The ratings have been going up since the 'mistake'. This could work for me. I can keep her around for while, everyone loves the marriage idea with her. She's a woman, they're so sensitive. They fall for anything, I'll make her fall in love with me. You tell them you love them and they'll bend over backwards for you, and if the ratings go down, I'll just get rid of her.

PS: I got the divorce forms. 

Squall 

Okay so that's the end of chapter 5. Jeez, it took a while to get out. There were actually like 3 different versions of this chapter, but I thought (and hope) this one was the best. I had writer's block for the longest time, and this was the best I could come up with... Hope I didn't disappoint anyone too much.


	6. Bars

Thanks for the reviews everybody! To the Squinoa fans: I like Squall. I like Rinoa. I'm just not a big Squinoa fan - but I'm a Squinoa friendly Quall shipper (kind of a mouth-full there.) Okay, so on to the story now.

Squall woke up with a headache, and a sense of impending doom. He knew why he had the headache obviously, but not the impending doom, which, frankly, was a never good sign. He groaned as he got up. After some stumbling around, he got to the door and managed to get out into the hallway without killing himself.

The first thing he realized as he stepped out of the door was that something must have gone terribly wrong last night. There was an unusually not bouncing off the walls Selphie to one-side, along with a hysteric looking Rinoa, who took one look at him and fled in the other direction. And then, there was the blonde who looked like she would kill him possibly a thousand times over just in spite.

Oh shit. He cringed inwardly - this was not good. Yeah, something must have really gone wrong last night, and he was a bit curious to what exactly had happened, but no way in hell was he asking any of them. Selphie had left to go after Rinoa and conveniently, he was left alone with an extremely pissed off Quistis.

Great. Just great. As if the hangover wasn't bad enough. "Do you have any idea what so ever of what you did last night?" Quistis asked quietly.

"Should I?" He shot back angrily. He didn't want to deal with this; he frankly didn't care if he had a maid that was over-emotional. He sighed and made his way to the staircase.

"You broke her heart!" The blonde yelled, it stopped him in his tracks.

He turned around and walked up to her, "It's not my problem she likes me." Squall said icily. "She's my maid. That's all she'll ever be. I'm not going to go around having affairs with my personnel."

"She loves you-" Quistis protested, clenching her fist.

"I. Don't. Care." Squall replied with no emotion.

The response was met with a slap. The force of it made him stagger backwards, and he was sure it would most likely bruise. He looked up at her with disbelief.

"I don't know how someone like her could ever love someone like you." Quistis replied coldly. "You don't care about anyone but yourself!"

"Enlighten me then," Squall grit out. "What was the horrible thing I did last night?"

"You were completely drunk, I was trying to get you back to your room, and you tripped. You somehow landed on me..." She sighed, "and you kissed me." Squall gave her a flat look as if to say 'that's it?' "Rinoa walked in and saw... and it broke her heart."

Squall sighed, putting a hand to his forehead. "What do you want me to do about it? Turn back time?" He snapped.

"Apologize. Tell her you mean something more to her than just a maid, you actually value her. Tell her you were drunk, and it was an accident." The blonde said calmly.

"And if it wasn't?" His response nearly made her do a double-take; he waited for her realise he wasn't serious before continuing. "And what do I get out of this if I agree to apologize?"

She took a shaky breath. "I'll stay."

Squall raised an eyebrow. "You'd stay just to make her feel appreciated?" He asked disbelievingly.

"Yes." The blonde said firmly. He personally thought it was ridiculous idea for staying, but if it kept his plan in motion he didn't give a damn.

"Fine." Squall said with a small smirk. "_But_," She inwardly sighed, she knew there would be a catch. "If I kiss you in public, you will kiss me back." She nearly choked on the air she was breathing at the moment.

She sighed, yes she had definitely done it this time. Her mind kept on wandering back to Rinoa, who she knew for a fact Squall didn't give a damn about; she knew she would only be there until the divorce papers came but maybe she could at least get him to see past what Rinoa was and perhaps see who she was.

Squall watched her for a moment before turning around, walking to the maid's room. Quistis sighed, she had yet again done something she'd regret. Squall turned back to the look at the blonde who was watching him, making sure he carried out his end of the bargain.

He frowned, shifting uncomfortably. Damn, what was he name again? Oh yeah. "Rinoa?" He asked, he knocked on the door. No answer. He knocked again.

His patience was wearing thin. "Rinoa?" He grit out, about to start hitting the poor door harder. The door creaked open and Rinoa appeared, wiping her eye dry.

"Mr. Leonheart," She said, forcing a smile. "P-please come in." Squall shot a look at the blonde who was still watching, she have a small nod acknowledging he wasn't pulling any stupid stunts.

The door clicked shut and the maid looked up to him. "I guess Quistis asked you to come here, right?" She asked quietly, fidgeting. Squall raised an eyebrow, who told _her_? "It's okay I know..." Rinoa sighed, "I know you'd never... think of me that way." She quivered slightly. "I just... I just -"

Squall tried not to sigh. Here it comes, he thought. He knew for a fact, Quistis was probably outside waiting patiently, he shifted again. He counted the seconds, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ...

"I love you." Rinoa whispered.

Bingo.

Squall honestly wasn't surprised. "I know you don't feel that way about me... but I just wanted to say it anyways... so you know," She forced a smile at him, trying not to cry. "You'd know... and maybe, you'd see me as something more." Squall tried his best to look compassionate. "But... I know that... I know that you have her."

Who was she referring to? Quistis? He nearly he laughed. What _was_ she going on about? Rinoa looked at him with a small smile, "You should give her a chance, okay?"

Squall raised an eyebrow, seriously, was _everyone _pairing them up off that bat or something? Oh well, it would get her out of the way for now anyways. Now to break it to her that he didn't like her... He opened his mouth to tell her, but she beat him to it.

"It's okay. You don't have to say it." She grinned at him; standing up and brushing off her outfit. "Now, go on. Breakfast's going to be ready soon and the cooks will kill you if you're late again." She gave him a small wave as she left for the kitchen, leaving Squall alone in the empty room.

Squall sighed and absent-mindledly picked up a photo on the maid's dresser and stared at it. It seemed like it was so long when she had first came to work for him. After General Caraway's wife had died, he had disowned her for some reason. He frowned, she had somehow managed to turn up on his door step exactly 3 years ago; and to everyone's surprise - he had taken her in. He put the photo back down again; he just couldn't understand why she loved him. But then again, this was Squall Leonheart and the only room he had in his heart was not for love but success.

Quistis stared from the doorway at him; it was starting to seem that the icy author cared for people more than he cared to admit. Maybe.

"If you're going to stare," Squall started not even looking in her direction; "It's usually a good idea to do it discreetly."

"Asshole." She mumbled under her breath. He didn't even bother to make a retort to that as he left. She stared after him with a frown on her face.

Squall sighed as he turned the shower. He had plenty of hangovers in his life, and had learned by now that showers helped. He groaned, it seemed like he was always stuck in stupid situations like these. He had some teacher that had no celebrity abilities what so ever, and some fan-girly maid. He was screwed over, at this rate he doubted his little project of trying woo his 'wife' over would ever work because he'd be more likely to argue with her than even attempt to win her over. He couldn't understand it. Every woman he had met instantly swooned over him - except for her.

...Maybe she was just being stubborn.

o o o

"Where is he!" The cook said, annoyed. Quistis and Selphie fidgeted nervously, exchanging glances at the empty seat where Squall _should _have been sitting. "We work all morning on a meal and he's not even here!"

Selphie groaned, "She's here." She muttered under her breath, jerking her thumb at Quistis. Selphie sat down next to Quistis, "This guy rambles on forever if Mr. Leonheart's late." She whispered in the other woman's ear. The blonde smiled. "Hey, can you do me a favour? Pleeeassse?"

Quistis nodded. "Can you go get Mr. Leonheart for me? I'm gonna go check on Rinoa." The blonde tried not to groan, she was expecting the favour would be going to get an inanimate object not an actual person. Least of all HIM.

"Pleeeeaaaaassssseee?" In her defence, Selphie's puppy eyes _and _her please could get anyone break in and do it. She sighed and got up. Selphie squealed in delight, and gave her a thumbs up.

What was she getting herself into? She frowned as she climbed the stairs, she hated being in these positions. Especially the getting married by accident ones. Soon, she reached his room. The blonde stared at the door, she was almost positive it was staring back. Seriously, it was.

Then it opened, nearly smacking her right in the face, and it would have if she hadn't jerked out of the way in time. Squall glared at her. She glared back. "I'm going to party at 6." He paused turning to her. "You're coming." She stared at him in disbelief. "There's a dress in your closet. Wear that." He added bluntly, turning on his heel and leaving.

Lunch wasn't one of the more productive sessions of the day; consisting of angry cooks, glares and the few odd insults shot back and forth across the table courtesy of the 'happy' married couple. Meanwhile, everyone stared. Even the cook.

o o o

So, here she was. Around 5 hours later, in pretty damn tight dress, and supposedly getting _something _done with her hair. She herself wasn't even sure what Selphie was doing to it. She shrugged, it couldn't be any worse than get about two inches bitten off by a skim with a T-Rexuar anyways.

"Anyways, this party tonight, the one Mr. Leonheart's taking you to; it's a really famous gala that all the big stars go to. It's like once a year or something." Selphie grinned, pulling the blonde's hair up into a bun... or something along those lines. Quistis watched with a quirked eyebrow as Selphie fixed. Yeah, it was a bun.

"Ohhh!" The blonde jumped. "Done! You look so pretty!" Selphie squealed, "Everybody's gonna love you!" The brunette looked at the clock, "Come on, you're gonna be late! Hurry, hurry!" She shooed the blonde out of her seat, "He's gonna be mad if you're late!"

"I'm going!" The blonde protested, getting up as Selphie shooed her down the stairs.

"Have fun!" The petite brunette called, waving frantically.

Both Squall and Quistis glared at her, and she let out a nervous giggle and ran down the hallway, nearly crashing into one of the butlers. "Let's go. I don't want to be late." Squall said coolly, not even offering her his arm this time.

She frowned, following him the limo. She couldn't believe she was getting dragged to one of these stupid parties. _Again. _As if the first time wasn't bad enough. The drive there, just like lunch, had consisted of mostly silence and more glares. Mostly the glares; and she was really starting to pity the limo driver who kept on having to look back every five seconds to make sure they weren't going to kill each other. And they hadn't.

Yet, anyways.

"Alright, look; we go in, I talk, you go sit somewhere. Avoid the reports. Then we go. Don't screw anything up." She nodded, trying not go over how many different ways she could kill him and not get caught in the act.

The limo pulled up to the red carpet. She stared. Famous people had red carpet for _everything._ "Come on." Squall said coldly, as the butlers opened the door.

If she had a dollar for every camera flash that went off, she would have been as rich as her husband. "Mr. Leonheart when do you plan on writing your next book-"

"Have you made any plans for children?" A woman called out from the back.

Squall held up his hand to quiet them. "Gentlemen, ladies; my wife and I have come here to attend a party. If you want to interview us you can talk to my manager, and he'd be glad to set you up for an interview. Now, if you'll excuse us." It almost boggled her mind to think that this was the man that had been stupidly drunk the night before.

She held back her growl when she felt his place a hand on her waist to guide her into the bar. It was packed. Completely and utterly packed. As in hardly-enough-room-to-even-breathe packed. A couple passed by and she was shoved against her 'loving husband'. It was rather uncomfortable being pressed against him like a pancake, she decided dryly.

And to make matters worse, she just _knew_ the half the room was staring, and she knew Squall was just waiting for all the eyes to be on them until he pulled some stupid stunt. Then the reporters came.

Oh, yes. That was _extremely_ convenient. Now she was really squished, and Squall was using it to his advantage. She resisted rolling her eyes and he titled her chin and kissed her. Camera flashes went off, and it was then she realized she just sitting there stupidly while he kissed her.

Hah. Serves him right. He pulled away, and she could tell he was pissed off, however he pulled the I'm-in-love-with-my-wife-watch-how-I-lean-down-to-tell-her-my-undying-love.

Pfft. Yeah right. Undying love - that's what the reporters thought. "You owe me, remember?" He said coldly. Her Squall hatred shot up about 1,000 points. At the very least.

Stupid son of a ... She glanced around and she knew if people weren't staring before they sure as hell were now. How embarrassing. It probably then she noticed how tall he was, as she almost had to get on her tip-toes to reach his lips.

God, how she hated him. She hated herself for going this, but a promise was a promise. Even if it was to some cold-hearted selfish little bast- ... even if it was to him. Ass hole, she thought, getting up on her tip-toes and looping her arms around his neck.

He was smirking, and she knew it. Alright, she was going to get his over with and quick. She shut her eyes and kissed him. Squall mentally noted himself of his own brilliance before putting his hands on her back and pushing him against him.

Seriously, as if she hadn't been squished before. She could practically feel his ribs, she was hell bent on keeping her eyes shut. She didn't want to see him smirking, and/or the reporters gawking.

Anytime now, really, Squall. You can pull away _any _time now. To her dismay, her telepathic powers (or lack there of) were not getting through to him. Slowly, he pulled away and she stared at him wondering how he could fake a love-struck gaze so well. He kept one hand on her waist as he turned the reporters and faked a smile before turning to her.

The reporters headed off after realizing there wasn't going to be some more action for a while. Quistis, at the moment however was reciting SeeD rules; especially the not to kill someone without a weapon. Damn, ego didn't count as a weapon did it?

"I'm going to go to the reporters. Go sit by the bar and don't screw anything up." Or anyone, period. He silently added.

She said nothing but gave him a withering look before heading off to the bar. Besides, a glass of wine was probably better company than him anyways. The stools were high, or maybe she only thought so because she was used to short chairs in her classroom.

Her classroom. She was homesick, she frowned and pushed the thought out of her head but it kept coming back like one of those annoying Trepies. She groaned, banging her head against the bar counter. She even missed the damn Trepies.

"What can I get you?" The bartender's voice was muffled by her the crowd in the background.

Quistis looked up blearily, glancing at the menu, and randomly pointing at some alcoholic drunk she couldn't even pronounce. If she was here with some egotistical asshole, she might as well get wasted.

Sure, it wasn't smart logic, but she stopped caring about logic when she got there. The bartender returned with a reddish yellow looking drink and she took it. The blonde stared at it for a minute. It didn't even look sanity.

But what the hell? She shrugged and drank it anyways, and nearly choked. Ohhh, it burned. Fine. Not one of her more brilliant ideas, but finished drinking it for the hell of it. The bartender came back to her and stared. "Anything else? How about water this time around?"

She shook her head vehemently. "Tequila." The blonde croaked out, putting her head on the cool bar surface. That felt better. The bar tender returned yet again with a tequila. And another. And another.

And then, she was officially drunk for the second time in two weeks.

o o o

"Thank you for your time, Mr. Leonheart." The reporter said, grinning while jotting down the last of the notes. Squall nodded, that was the last of them. Finally.

Now was the fun part. Finding his wife whom he was sure was not a happy camper. Keeping his you've-got-nothing-on-me-I-guarentee-I'm-5-times-as-rich-as-you walk; he found himself at the bar looking at his incredibly dunk wife.

Shit. Drunk probably would have been an understatement. She was friggen' wasted. He quickly hailed the bartender over, and pointed to the blonde. "How maybe beers did she have?"

"Beers? She had tequilas." The bartender said. Oh no, she just couldn't have gone for the cheap stuff.

"Fine. How many of those?" Squall grit out, digging money out of his wallet.

"Four."

"Four." Squall said dryly. "That's it?" The bartender nodded. Squall's gaze moved from his drunk wife to the bar. "No alcohol tolerance what so ever." He muttered, putting a cheque on the table.

He walked over to her and crouched beside her. "Quistis?" She nodded stupidly. Good. At least she knew her own name. "Come on. We're going." He said coldly, waiting for her to get up. She did, and nearly did a face plant in the process.

Dammit. He knew the reporters were looking their way, he motioned the bartender over again and slipped him a cheque. "She did not get drunk, did she?" He said quietly, the bartender nodded, taking the cheque.

Squall looked over at the entrance, there was no way in hell he was getting out of there without someone not noticing. He sighed, grabbing Quistis and walking towards the lobby. He thanked his lucky stars they were at some fancy hotel.

"Give me a room." He said, putting down another cheque.

"Normal room? Luxury suite?" The person asked. How many types of rooms were there? "Honeymoon?" Squall rolled his eyes, did it _look _like he was on his honeymoon?

"I don't care, just give me a damn room." He said quietly, the woman nodded, obviously not wanting to piss a rich person and fumbled for a moment before handing him a key.

"Your room is 10H, it's just down the hall." The woman said, pointing to the right. Squall nodded, turning to his wife, whom he doubted could walk two steps in a straight line. He rolled his eyes, and walked over to her and picked her up, tuning out the woman at the register's awws.

He nearly dropped her trying to open the room and when he did he swore. One bed. Shit. He knew he should have stayed around and asked for two. He swore under his breath again and walked over and set her down on the bed before turning to leave.

"You're leaving?" She asked quietly. He wheeled around at her. She was drunk, she's be passed out in a few minutes anyways. It's not like she'd miss him or anything.

"Yeah." He heard the bed creak and she stumbled over and clung onto him.

"Don't leave me." He raised an eyebrow. Was she hitting on him?

"I'm going now." He said coldly, detangling himself from her. Squall watched as she moved over into the light. Huh. Amazing how he didn't notice how low-cut that dress was until now.

She followed his gaze before looking up at him. "You want me?"

Excuse me, what the fuck? His mind blurted out silently. One minute she was going to kill him in his sleep and the next she was going to jump him? No wonder they got married and ended up in bed the first time around.

He stood there dumbstruck, and she kissed him. Oh, this would be wonderful black-mail. He vaguely wondered if they had security cameras in here. God, he hoped not. She closed her eyes and she ran her hands down his shirt and began unbuttoning it.

Shit, shit, shit. The door was still open. He pushed his wife away and looked out the hallways. No one was there. He slammed the door shut and she practically pounced on him.

Okay. Now he was scared. His wife was practically trying to rape him.

A knock on the door made him thank his lucky stars. Damn, there went his shirt. He pushed her away and opened the door. It was probably Irvine, they had scheduled to meet before hand so frankly he didn't care if his shirt was gone.

However, it wasn't Irvine. Holy shit.

Reporters. A thousand of them at least. Okay, fine so he was exaggerating. There was about 20, give or take one or two. "Mr. Leonheart is it true-"The first 54 questions started with that.

"Mr. Leonheart, is it true that your wife is currently under the influence?" Someone asked loudly from the back. The hallway went silent. Stupid bartender. Squall made a note to himself to get that guys fired.

"Of course not." He said calmly.

THUMP.

And that would be the sound of Quistis passing out and hitting the ground.

"Shit." He muttered under his breath. "Gentlemen, excuse me." He slammed the door shut, and starred at the unconscious blonde. Great, knowing his luck she'd have a concussion in the morning and wouldn't know who the hell he was.

He kneeled down and carefully picked her up and put her back on the bed. And stared. There was no way in hell she was wearing that 900,000 gil dress to bed. No way in hell.

Squall sighed, bending down to pick up his shirt. It was big on him, it would be huge on her, hopefully enough to cover all the important areas. He rolled over, praying to God she wasn't going to wake and up and kill him.

He squinted at the dress. Where the hell was the damn zipper? Ah. There it was. He unzipped looking the other direction, and rolled her over again. Good. She had a bra on. He pulled the dress off and folded it putting it on the night stand before pulling his shirt on her dead weight limbs, and then buttoning it up.

He picked her up again and put her under the covers. God, the past 5 minutes had given him stress; so when his cell phone rang it was only normal he jumped a foot in the air. He picked it up and flipped open. "Hello?" He barked.

__

"Jeez. Take it easy."

"Where there hell were you, Irvine?" Squall growled.

_"Well, see. There were these two hot babes. Any you know, they just can't resist me..."_

"Get to the point."

_"Okay, so anyway. Heard your girl was putting the moves on you. How was she?"_

"Where'd you hear that? What do you mean how was she?" Squall snapped, angrily.

_"Calm down, buddy. The hotel ladies told me, don't worry. I paid them to shut up. You don't understand how was she? In bed, you twit."_

Squall rolled his eyes. "Unlike you; I'm not going to screw some drunk woman."

__

"Your loss, buddy. She's hot. I bet she's great in be-" Squall hit the end button on his phone and turned it off. He turned back to the bed, screw it if she killed him in the morning. At least he'd get a good night's rest the night before.

Squall crawled in the other side of the bed and quickly fell asleep thinking of what the headlines would say tomorrow.

o o o

Banging on the door awoke him. Startled, he jerked away but was pulled down by extra weight. He starred stupidly at the blonde on his chest who was dead asleep. Cuddling.

Cuddling. Seriously. Was she bipolar or something? That would explain a lot. He tried again to get up but only succeeded in waking her up. Her eyes snapped open and she stared at him in disbelief. She jerked away only managing to pull them both off the bed and onto the floor.

"Convenient." Squall said dryly.

The banging on the door got louder. "Quisty!" A male's voice.

Squall froze. Great an ex. Quistis hadn't even bothered to get off of him because she was so stunned. "Zell?" She asked stupidly. "I thought he was still at prison." She muttered, calmly.

Squall literally stopped breathing. Prison! Wonderful. Now they'd both tag team kill him. What a wonderful way to die. Killed by your wife and her ex. "Prison?" Squall croaked. Quistis nodded.

The banging got louder and finally the door burst open revealing a blonde tattooed man. "I'm too young to die." Squall muttered under his breath. He hadn't even written a will yet. The blonde ran over to them and gawked.

"What the hell!"

Quistis grinned sheepishly with a small wave. "Hi big brother."

Squall fainted.

Whew. That was a nine page chapter. Sorry it took forever to write. Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter! You guys make my day! Two updates in one day, I feel proud.


	7. Calls

"I haven't seen you in so long, Zell. I missed you." A pause. "But what are you doing here? I thought you were still working at the prison."

"Nah. Ma called me about a week ago saying the hotel here was looking for people to work so I quit and got a job here. Mopping the floors there was a lame job anyway."

He heard the voices long before he heard the people. Squall slowly opened his eyes, and then blinked. Damn. It hadn't been a dream. "Hey, he's waking up!" Zell said leaning over Squall, staring at him intently. Squall stared back with more of a look of disgust rather than one curiosity like Zell's.

"So the rumours were true." Zell said, crossing his arms, looking from Quistis to Squall. "You got married. Jeez, you think you would have at least invited me and ma."

"Ma and I." Quistis replied automatically. Both men stared at her oddly, Zell wondering how she got all the brains in the family; and Squall wondering how the hell she got drunk so easily and magically never got a hang-over. Lucky.

"Sure." Zell said, waving it off and then looked at Squall. "Has he been treating you okay?" Squall could practically feel the waves of over-protective brotherness already. His sister nodded, obviously forced. "Good, 'cause if he does anything to ya, I swear I'll-"

"Zell." Quistis said calmly, he went silent. "How's mom and dad?"

The tattooed man leaned back. "Eh, they're good. Hey! Let's tell 'em the news!" He exclaimed, reaching for the phone.

"Don't!" Quistis yelped. Zell stared. Silence.

Okay. Think of something fast. NOW. Squall's brain went in overdrive there for a moment. "Because we're visiting them tonight. We want to surprise them." Whew. That was a close one, Squall thought mentally giving himself a thumbs up.

Both blondes gawked.

"So, who is this guy anyways?" Zell asked, leaning forward and staring at Squall.

"Squall Leonheart." Squall said stiffly.

"Hey, wait - you don't mean that author guy..." They both nodded. "Whoa! You're gonna be rich!" Again, both nodded.

"ZELL!" Everyone jumped. Well except for Squall, who was currently still basking in his own ego. Quistis could only assume it was her brother's annoyed manager.

"Shit. Gotta go. See ya tonight!" Zell gave a wave before rushing out the door and slamming it shut.

Yeah. He was a dead man now. Really dead. Six feet under dead.

"First thing's first." Quistis said quietly, in the quiet-but-oh-so-deadly tone of voice. "Why am I in your shirt?"

Hmm. Let's see; because you got all postal on me and tried to rape, then passed out, so I dragged you the bed and undressed you. Oh yeah, would believe me if I told you I actually didn't even look at you once while undressing you?

He could see the sexual harassment lawsuit now. "Your dress ripped. End of story." Oh yes, he was a an expert liar and was damn proud of it. She stared at him as if to say 'yeah _righ_t', but said nothing.

Good. He was off the hook. "And what's this about going to my parents?"

Or not. "It's not like they don't already know." He said coolly, pushing her off of him. "It's everywhere by now."

"That's not the point!" She said frustrated.

He turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "How do expect the press to believe us if your own parents won't? What if they decided to interview your parents and they said they didn't even know you and I were 'dating'?" Squall asked icily. He sighed, getting up and fishing his phone out of his pocket and handing to it to her. "Call them."

Quistis looked from him to the phone before furring her brow. "No." She said quietly, looking up at him before smirking slightly. Squall stared at her stupidly for a moment before turning away.

"Fine. Tell them you got you drunk, married and slept with me. Your choice." Squall said simply, shrugging his shoulders.

Quistis bowed her head; what would her parents think of her then? Knowing that their daughter got drunk at some random hotel, slept with someone she didn't even know and managed to get married probably at some cheap drive through wedding place? No. She couldn't let them know that. She'd disappoint them so much. The blonde sighed. "Give me the phone."

Squall handed it over wordlessly, and she dialled her number. Hesitantly, she brought the phone to her ear.

_"Hello?"_

"Hi mom." She said quietly, allowing a small smile to cross her lips.

"Honey? Where were you? We were so worried! We called Xu and she took you out and couldn't fine you later, she said she thought you went home early. So then we called your dorm, and you weren't there either. We called the Garden and they didn't know where you were..."

"Mom, I'm fine. Really." Squall watched as she talked to her mother and his eyes softened for a moment. He sighed, grabbing his blazer and buttoned it up before leaving. He'd be back soon, anyways.

_"What have you been doing? Cid said you' haven't been to work in about a week." _

"Well, by any chance have you been keeping track of the news?"

_"Honey, you know the only news we get around here is the daily weather."_

"Well, mom, yes, I have been up to something..." She took a deep breath. "I.. I got married."

Silence.

o o o

"Mr. Leonheart! Mr. Leonheart!" Squall groaned. He thought they had all left the night before. It only sounded like one person was following him; not a frantic herd of reporters. Thank God.

He turned around slowly. "Do I know you?" The brunette asked dryly, examining the person.

"It's me. Nida." Squall continued to stare stupidly. "The reporter who interviewed at your house? A week ago?" Nida asked hopefully.

Squall shook his head. "Sorry." He offered lamely.

"Never mind." The other man said weakly, hanging his head.

Squall shrugged before walking out to the lobby and before finding a pay phone.

Yes. Squall Leonheart was using a pay phone. No. You are not delusional. Squall sighed before dialling the number. How embarrassing.

"Y'ello."

"Irvine, cancel all my appointments for tonight." There was no room in that for question. It was an order.

_"What? Why?" _

"I'm meeting her parents." Squall muttered.

Irvine started laughing almost instantly.

o o o

"Mom, are you there?" Quistis asked, taking a seat on the bed; burying her head in her hands.

This wasn't going well. It had been silence for almost 2 minutes of silence now.

_"You're joking right? What have I told you about joking, you know your father takes it seriously. " _

She winced inwardly. "I'm not joking. I got married a week ago to Squall Leonheart." Oh how she hated that name with a passion.

_"You're not ...joking?" _

"No." She paused. "I'm sorry."

A door slamming put her off track. She wheeled around at Squall and glared at him, putting a finger to her mouth to indicate silence. He shrugged, obviously not caring.

**_"You didn't even invite us to the wedding!" _**The blonde quickly held the phone away from her ear, she was personally attached to her hearing. Squall stared at the her and then the phone. Even he heard that.

"Well, see mom... you weren't invited because..." She trailed off. Squall moved in front of her, and started making frantic gestures. She squinted as he stared making gestures of a church.

'Did someone die?' She mouthed to him. He shook his head, and pointed to his wedding ring. 'Jewellery?' She tried again, yet again he shook his head.

She stared at him stupidly. She never was good at charades.

Squall rolled his eyes, moving over to the desk and quickly scribbling a note down before holding it up. She squinted for a moment.

"We're having a second wedding?" Quistis asked, gawking at the note.

Oh shit. She did _not _just say that aloud.

_"That's wonderful! When do we meet him?" _

Quistis smacked her forehead.

Short chapter I know; but I'm just trying to get his up quick so I get ready for Anime North. This chapter is short, but the next chapter will be long. At least 10 pages, I promise. As for forget me not, it will mostly likely be updated next week. Heh, I'm evil, but I'm good. Whew, two updates in two days; but two cliff-hangers now...


	8. Weddings

Great. Just great. Not was she married to someone she hated, she was getting married AGAIN to them - in front of her family. Wonderful. The next few hours were a blur, she vaguely remembered arguing with Squall almost to the point of kicking and screaming. Almost. It had been pretty damn close though she was pretty sure she had gotten in one good smack.

However in the end, they never did make it back to his house; instead high tailed it to the nearest, possibly the most expensive wedding designer's place. And by the most expensive place, it wasn't the most expensive place where they were. It was the most expensive place. Period. As in world wide most expensive.

Even the inside of the lobby was worth more than 5 years pay for her. Frankly, she didn't know if she was that cheap or if they were that rich. Squall stood stiffly to her side, silent as always.

God, she couldn't believe she was getting married to him. TWICE. Once was bad enough. "Hello, how may I help you?" The manager asked, popping out from behind the front desk. Well, not even popping really; more like walking out from behind.

Both Quistis and Squall had to look down to see her. "I want to making wedding plans." Squall said smoothly.

The woman starred at him for a moment. "Of course. You must be Mr. Leonheart, I presume? Your agent already called. So it's two days from now am I correct? Don't worry, I assure you our team can make the dead line." The woman said confidently.

Squall nodded, and the Quistis was trying her best now to scream in frustration. Two days! That was it? "And it's a public wedding?" Another nod. "Of course it will be catered; now, where do you want the wedding?"

The blonde tuned out while they went over wedding details, she wasn't even sure how long they had been talking or how long she had tuned out for. It seemed like forever. And suddenly the thought that it was her own wedding as she didn't even care where it was made her rather depressed. She didn't even notice when the manager started asking her questions. "And the dress?"

Silence. It took a moment for her to register the woman was talking to her because all the earlier questions had been addressed to Squall in the past hour. "What?" The blonde blurted out stupidly.

Squall rolled his eyes. "I'll leave it up to you. I expect everything to be set up time." He said coldly, "I'll pay you during the wedding reception. If everything goes as I expect it to, then I'll pay you 1 million extra plus the original bill."

The manager nodded quickly, "We'll start right away, Mr. Leonheart. I wish you and your wife the very best." Squall nodded stiffly as the woman scurried away. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair and turned for the door.

"Come on. We're going." He said coolly, walking out into the parking lot. Taking one last look at the lobby, she followed him slowly to his limo. She was beginning to think he had thousands of them stationed around the world for his convenience. The limo driver gave her a small wave as she got in, and nodded at Squall who in turn just leaned back on the leather seats.

"Where do your parents live?" Squall asked quietly, closing his eyes and relaxing.

"Balamb." She could have sworn Squall said something about country people under his breath. Scratch that. He _did_. She shot him a glare and he ignored it, shifting his body away from her.

"You heard her." He said coolly to the driver; he nodded and started the limo. Squall quietly nestled into his side of the limo and tried to fall asleep.

"Well, missy," The driver stared, taking a right at the first set of lights. "how about you take a nap or something and I'll wake you up when I need directions."

She shook her head; she didn't feel like sleeping. "Is he always that rude to you?" The driver shrugged in response. Silence. Quistis sighed and watched the scenery instead, occasionally shifting to make her sure her legs didn't fall asleep. Like Squall. Who was contently sleeping unaware of her discomfort.

"I guess it depends on your point of view." The words snapped her out of her daydream, and she quickly turned towards the voice. The driver. "He did take that Rinoa girl in a while ago. He didn't have to, but he did." Fine. He did have a point there.

"I suppose." She said quietly, with a small frown. Fine. But he wasn't going to get any brownie points any time soon though. The blonde glanced out the window and watched the scenery for a while before falling asleep.

o o o

"Miss? Miss?" She let out a moan of protest, and turned over. She didn't know who the voice belonged to.

"Get up." She knew that one, though. Damn. Blearily, she opened her eyes, blinking a few times before her vision adjusted. "Which way?" She shot a glare at Squall before looking out the window.

"Left." She said, stifling a yawn. The driver nodded, taking the left. "Keep going straight and then take a right." The blonde watched the familiar scenery as the limo pulled up to a small brick house. Extremely small.

"You've got to be kidding." Squall muttered under his breath. She elbowed him in the stomach roughly, making him nearly choke. The driver starred before coughing politely.

"We're here." Both looked at each other before scrambling out the doors, glaring at each other all the way. "Please call three hours ahead before you leave, Mr. Leonheart. The forecast said it would rain, and the traffic will be bad. It wouldn't be good if I got stuck in traffic." The limo driver said nodding before pulling out of the drive way and disappearing down the dirt road.

Now they were alone. Both starred at the door a moment before actually walking over and knocking on it. Squall put a hand on her waist, "All right, let's get this over with."

The door opened and they were nearly bowled over. "Quistis, honey!" Squall never saw it coming. A blur of blonde, he wasn't even sure which one and he was almost shoved out of the way for the parents to get to their child. "How are you? Where have you been? Is it true you quit?" It was a flurry of questions Squall didn't even have any intention to overhear.

Then they turned to him. "You must be Squall." Her father said, looking at him more like cross examining him. Squall nodded forcing a smile.

"You must be Mr. Trepe." It wasn't meant to be mocking, it really wasn't. But he ended up getting an discreet elbow in the ribs anyways. He quickly gave her father a firm handshake before turning to her mother. "Mrs. Trepe, " He gave her a small bow. "I can see where Quistis gets her looks."

Both Quistis and her father glared as Mrs. Trepe blushed and stammered while telling him to stop the flattery. "Please come in." Her mother said, opening the door before returning to her husband. Quistis sighed before stepping through, Squall following.

Squall watched as her mother hugged her daughter again, this time noticing the wedding ring. "Oh my!" She said, evidently surprised. Slyly, she turned to Squall. "The bank must be generous to give you such a big loan!"

"Sophie!" Her husband scolded, she waved it off. Quistis, meanwhile, busied herself cleaning the counter trying to ignore talk of bank loans.

"So are you two hungry?" Mrs. Trepe asked, moving over to the counter and shooing her daughter away like a fly. "Dinner should be ready soon, I suppose Zell couldn't make it after all. Why don't you two sit down in the living room while I just turn the oven on." They both nodded, moving over to the small living room.

Squall stretched his legs, nearly hitting the chair nearby. Damn, his bathroom was bigger than this. Frankly, he was glad he wasn't claustrophobic. Sighing, he looked around the small room. Some might have found it home sweet home, or dare he say _homey_. He shuddered at the thought.

A few pictures were placed around every now and then. Not very symmetrical in his opinion. His companion was contently curled up on the couch. He was seriously betting she was a cat in a previous life. Yeah. He was pretty positive on that. Squall sighed, leaning back, trying to relax.

Sure, he was fine with reporters, rabid fan girls and managers hell bent on getting him deals; but anything related to _her _somehow made his uneasy. Or maybe lunch just went down the wrong way.

"Dinner's ready!" It was slightly muffled since there was a wall between the two rooms; but it was still fairly loud. Squall took a deep breath before getting up and finding his way to the small dining room.

Even smaller than the living room. That was his first thought. The second he stepped into the room, he was shooed over beside Quistis courtesy of her mother. As if it wasn't tight seating in the first place. The table was fairly small. Or maybe he was just big, since he kept banging his knees every time he attempted to move. Talk about annoying.

Bowls of food moved around the table towards him, and then past once he declined. "Aren't you hungry?" He had previously tuned out all conversation until the he heard the sentence directed to him.

"No-" A sharp kick in the leg made his stop his sentence. He immediately shot a glare to his wife who smiled at him innocently. "I was just waiting for the potatoes." Squall lied, shooting another glare at her before taking the potatoes when they were handed to them. Her parents seemed happy with this new adjustment.

"So Mr. Leonheart, what do you do for a living?" Her mother asked, after he finished the potatoes he didn't want in the first place.

"I'm an author."

"He writes teen series." Added Quistis, after a moment of silence.

"Oh, that's nice. I always hoped you'd get married to someone creative." Mrs. Trepe said elbowing her husband so that he too agreed.

"How much do you make a year? Can you even support our daughter? Some authors don't even get published!"

Yes. That was her father. Squall leaned back, and Quistis inwardly cringed. This wouldn't go well. "About 70 billion."

Both forks and jaws dropped simultaneously.

Silence. "So how about dessert?"

o o o

After the awkward silence, it settled down a bit. Not a lot, but enough.

"So tell me, how did you two meet? You don't meet famous people everyday, you know." The older female Trepe leaned forward in interest at her husband's question.

"We met at a bookstore in Balamb. I was on a tour, I guess Quistis saw me and thought I worked there because she asked me about a book. Ironically, it was my book." _Insert shameless self advertisement here. _

"Oh, that's quite the coincidence." Damn. Squall had a feeling she wasn't falling for it. "How often do you have your tours, Mr. Leonheart?"

"Please, call me Squall." Squall said smoothly, flashing her a smile. "It depends. My next tour is in about 5 months, I believe. I hope that Quistis will be able to go with me, it's a good travelling experience."

"That's nice." Her father said stiffly, glaring at Squall all the while.

"So, honey, when is your wedding scheduled for?"

"Two days from now." Both of her parents were jaw slacked.

"W-what? That's so soon! You haven't even told us where it will be taking place."

Quistis frantically made hand motions for them to calm down - which they ignored. It was series of frantic, annoyed questions until Squall butt in. "It's taking place in Deiling. I'll arrange a limo to take you there. The reception is taking a place at a hall near there, the limo will wait for you so you don't have to worry about getting there. Yes, there will be press there, but they won't interview you unless you give consent. There are security guards." Squall took a deep breath. "It's fool proof."

"All right then." Silence. Then a boom of thunder. "Looks like the forecast was right. It did rain."

"Well, we should get going then before the traffic gets bad." Announced Squall getting up. Quistis rolled her eyes, grabbed his arm and yanked him down into the seat again.

Both parents stared in disbelief, neither had ever seen her so... aggressive to say the least.

"Well, in any case; at least stay the night. The forecast said the weather would get worse, and there would be a storm."

"I know mom, but, see-" Quistis said awkwardly only to get interrupted.

"Listen to your mother." Her father said sternly.

Her mother nodded in approval. "You two can sleep in Quistis' old room."

"Mom, we have to be somewhere in the morn-"

"Are you sure? We don't want to intrude." Quistis turned to Squall stupidly.

"Of course not! We don't mind. Just try to keep it down tonight, your father and I have to get up early tomorrow." Her mother winked at them.

Suddenly, Quistis felt nauseous.

o o o

So there he was. In his fake wife's bedroom. Squall shifted and took a good look at her room. He didn't care much for the colour, but thank God it wasn't pink. He hated pink. With a passion.

Quistis had left to go get changed into pyjamas, on the way back hurling him a pair of her brother's pyjamas. Great. After getting which side was whose and get changed, rather awkwardly he might add (it was a small bathroom and it was fairly easy to bump limbs against the walls in his case anyways.) they were officially alone.

"Why are we staying? Peter might get worried." Squall jumped slightly. He could have sworn she was still changing. Seriously.

"Peter?" Asked Squall with a quirked eyebrow.

"The limo driver." She explained curtly, walking over to her bed and pulling the pillow case on one of the pillows that were messily piled.

"You're on first name basis?" It wasn't really a question. More of a statement put bluntly.

"Why? Are you jealous?" The blonde asked with a smirk.

"Why would I?" He replied coolly, practically shrugging off the question.

She brushed the retort off with ease. "You never answered my question. Why did you agree to stay?"

Squall turned to the window before replying. "When have you last seen your mother?"

She raised an eyebrow. Why did he want to know that? It was while ago she knew that much. "Around a year ago, I suppose."

"There's my answer."

His response caught her off guard, she hadn't been expecting that. The room then went silent, only the crickets were making sound. "When have you last seen your mom?" It was the only thing she could think of saying.

"Never." She wasn't sure if it was the response or how he said it that made her almost forget that he was a cold, money-centered bastard and pity him. Almost. "She died in child birth."

"Oh." The blonde paused a moment. "I'm sorry."

He didn't say anything but laid down on the bed in a futile attempt to fall asleep. She took a side ways glance at him before getting up and turning the lights off and then returning to sleep beside him.

"Thanks for letting me stay." She told him quietly. Silence. The blonde peeked over at him. He was sleeping. She looked at him incredulously before it turned into a glare. Fine. But she wasn't saying that twice. Frowning, she turned over and fell asleep.

o o o

They left in the morning after giving instructions her parents instructions on how to use the ID he have given them to get into the wedding hall. She was barely half awake when they had stopped at the dress designer's store. All she remembered was practically being pushed through the doors, being measured and poked while they fitted the dress; nearly tripping over the train of her own dress and finally meeting up with Squall, who bluntly told her quote, "You look drunk." Unquote.

Oh yes. As if that hadn't defined the word 'fun' itself, she was then dragged off the wedding hall. It was still work in progress to say the least, and by that it meant nearly being run over by all the personal rushing to get all the little itty-bitty details finished before the big day. She felt her heart drop. Tomorrow was the big day. Her wedding day. Sure, it wasn't as bad the first time as she didn't have a say in it; but this time when she actually had the ability to do something she literally _couldn't_ do anything.

Hell, he wrote _both_ their wedding vows. The bride maids were already pre-assigned much to her protest (which of course, they ignored.), the flowers were already picked out to match her dress and the rest of the area _and_ her stylists were already making a plan of attack on her hair. She might as well have been mute.

She watched silently as the hustle and bustle eventually calmed down and the personnel filed out to show their progress. The place was huge. No exaggeration there. There was countless amount of chairs and tables around with bouquets of flowers on them; the alter (or at least what she assumed to be the alter) was made of a large white arch way and quite a few tiny steps leading up to it. She prayed that she wouldn't fall and do a face plant while climbing them.

"Everything's fine so far." She vaguely heard Squall tell the manager. "Make sure her family and the press get immediate seating. No one gets in without ID, is that understood? Make sure the security knows that." The woman nodded quickly, jotting down random notes even Quistis couldn't even attempt to decipher. Squall however, seemed satisfied. "We'll be there at 2 o'clock sharp." That was probably as much as a goodbye the woman would ever get from Squall, because the next thing the groggy blonde knew she was back the mansion.

And frankly, the only she wanted to do at the moment was sleep.

o o o

From around midnight from that night to about 11 am the morning, she was getting briefed on exactly how the wedding would go; from how to move and what to say to how to appear in front the press. Needless to say, she didn't get any sleep.

Not that anyone would ever know from the layers of make-up and foundation that was applied anyways. It was a good 3 hours of sitting in front of countless women to complete the makeup alone; then it was on to hair. She lost count of the silver beads and bobby pins after the first five minutes, but once it was done it felt like her hair had practically been glued on. And it might have been, she wasn't quite sure _what _ hair people did these days.

Jewellery. She had never been a big fan of jewellery as it weighed her down when she battled, but she didn't have a say in it now. A giant diamond necklace that she was pretty sure weighed at least 3 pounds hung around her neck along with two other diamond earrings. Yes, gradually, it was all weighing her down.

The dress was next. Embroidered with tonnes of little sapphires looking like tiny little specks of diamond dust, it almost made her gawk in surprise at how fine the details were. The stylist women (or whoever they were; she lost count of who was who after the first set of ten women) helped her get in on and zipped it up for her. She only hoped they'd be there to help her get it off because as sure as hell she wasn't letting Squall do it. Surprisingly, it was comfortable despite her earlier beliefs. That was always a nice surprise

Around 12:30 in the afternoon, she was literally shooed off to her own wedding limo, Squall meeting her halfway and surveying her quickly in approval before walking out to the limo. Squall shot the limo driver a quite discreet glare when he winked and gave a thumbs up to Quistis. She blindly missed both gestures as she was staring out the window, and trying to go over her wedding vows.

It seemed like it took hours to get there. That and there was bad traffic, but they managed to get to the ceremony on time, barely squeaking by the original set time of 2 o'clock. The moment they stepped out the limo there was a flurry of blinding flashed and she literally had to cling on to Squall to ensure she didn't trip from the series of bright lights. The veil wasn't helping much either, it was hard to see and it wasn't easy to breathe in either as it was all for looks and not for comfort, conveniently.

She was escorted by the bride maids after Squall went in the back way. Selphie giddily gave her thumbs-up, "You look beautiful!" Quistis gave her a small smile before turning to Rinoa nervously. She really didn't know what to say; she was getting married to the man that she loved. It didn't seem fair at all.

Rinoa turned to her and gave her a smile reassuring smile, taking the bouquet from a random wedding personal from beside her and handed it to the blonde. "You'll be fine. Don't worry."

Quistis nodded slowly, silent before finally gathering the courage to hug the other girl awkwardly without whacking her in the face with the flowers, as they approached the door to the wedding hall. It was then the tune of 'here comes the bride' started. Both Rinoa and Selphie held the doors open for her mouthing their encouragement. She took a deep breath and walked forward hearing the rustle of clothes as everyone stood at her entrance.

It took her by surprise as she felt an arm link with hers and nearly made her trip. She looked up expectedly for either Selphie or Rinoa but was greeting with neither. "Dad." She managed to squeak out with out crying in joy. "I didn't think you'd be walking me down the aisle."

"Neither did I, but it turns out your husband arranged it so I could get here early so it'd be possible." He smiled at her calmly, "You know, I didn't think I'd be here for another 5 years but here I am. I'm really proud of you sweetie, you've matured a lot." She nodded, trying not to hug her dad then take a run at the exit so she wouldn't have to face telling him that their little girl would be getting divorced in less than two months.

"Well, there he is." It seemed like the walk down the aisle took an eternity but there he was. Squall looked up at her and faked a smile at her and her father, out stretching his hand to her. She took one look at her father and then Squall before reluctantly letting go of her father's farm and taking Squall's hand.

The crowd sat down, and in vain she searched the crowd in an attempt to spot Xu. She was no one where to be found, she slowly bowed her head silently as the minister began to address both parties. "In sickness and health..."

She found herself trying not to repeat them in monotone, but nearly failing as her voice nearly cracked half way through. She was making a huge mistake and she knew it. Squall said his lines perfectly, the crowd had no clue they had rehearsed the whole thing numerous times on end to perfect it. The vows seemed to last an eternity and echoed in her mind that she was being unfaithful when making them. She wouldn't love him in sickness and health. She wouldn't cherish him. She didn't love him period.

"You may now kiss the bride." It was that line that snapped her out of her own little dream world. She bowed her head as he lifted the veil and carefully titled her chin before gently kissing her. She felt the ring being slipped onto her finger and she knew then it wasn't some stupid nightmare she was in. It was real. He released her lips and she fumbled for a moment before the slipping the wedding band onto his left hand.

The crowd cheered, and she could easily hear Zell's whoops in the background. Camera flashed in the background blinding her as yet again they kissed. He took her hand and let her out to the limo, the bride maid's dutifully carrying the dress train as instructed before hand.

Rice was thrown from the outside and she was beginning to wonder why someone had made such a ridiculous idea in the first place like throwing rice as all it did was get into her dress and her hair. More camera flashes. "Throw the bouquet." Squall hissed, his hand placed firmly on her waist.

She turned around and shut her eyes before throwing the bouquet behind her in the midst of the crowd. A few cheers and then mad scrambling sounds before the awaited "I got it! I got it!"

The blonde turned around, and saw none other than Selphie with the bouquet. She vaguely heard some of the guest mutter something about rigged bouquets but everyone ignored them anyways. Selphie waved at the blonde before throwing the bouquet to Rinoa, who merely looked that brunette in shock before smiling. "She needs it more than I do!" Selphie explained loudly, grinning.

The crowd erupted in laughter, and Quistis couldn't help but smile before getting in the limo. "Off to the reception, everyone!" Squall yelled before returning to his wife.

Once the door was shut, Quistis curled into a ball; for she knew what the headlines would say tomorrow.

"_Squall Leonheart and Quistis Trepe are officially married."_

Random facts about this story. Because I can: Originally, this was meant to be a Seiftis fic (gasp) I know. It was supposed to be when Seifer and Quistis went to Timber in the first disk, and got drunk and married. But then I thought there's tonnes of those of Seiftis/Quiefer fics. Hell, they've probably done that idea already, besides, Quall needs way more fandom. Fact 2, I don't know if anyone noticed but (I am a nit pick, I realize) in chapter 6; Squall digs out money in bills but later puts down a cheque.


	9. Stars

She was not a happy camper. No where near it. It wasn't that the place was packed, because it wasn't. It was the fact that it was her own wedding and out of most likely four hundred people, she knew a grand total of five. Five whopping people.

The wedding hall was full, not packed but not deserted either. Most of the people there she could tell, were news people and (she was assuming) famous people. The limo ride had been a pain, since the traffic had been horrible. Once they had got there, they were practically swarmed by reporters until security showed up and gave them a firm warning.

Squall was currently engaged in an conversation with some random person she had never seen before in her life. She silently swore at him all the curse words she knew when he starting going on about their relationship in depth. And of course, he knew he was pissing her off.

Finally, the person left and they were ushered onto the wedding speeches. To be honest, she tuned everyone she didn't know out. Which, basically, meant everyone. After the first two people, murmurings rippled through the crowd asking why none of the parents had gone up to the podium and said anything about the couple and she was starting to get nervous. Had he parents gotten there alright? What if there was a crash? What if- suddenly, the crowd starting clapping.

She snapped out of her daze and looked up at the podium, as the person tapped a spoon against a glass. It broke, and the person started from the glass to the crowd and then the glass. "Uh, do I have to pay for that?"

"Who is that?" Quistis leaned over whispering to Squall.

The man at the podium grinned and waved to them, and cautiously, Quistis waved back. "I'd just like to congratulate Mrs. Trepe and my son on their wedding."

Squall was currently trying not go up there and strangle his own father. "See, Squall was always a funny kid. You know, he always had a thing with blondes. When he was one year old-"

"Dad." Squall grit out in a dangerous tone of voice. "Enough."

The man shrugged and stepped down, hurt; and immediately she felt sorry for him and shot a glare at Squall who completely ignored her. After that, the speeches came to abrupt stop. No wanted to annoy the happy couple. "Why were you so rude to him?" Quistis asked angrily to him afterwards.

"None of your concern." He said icily, and she knew she had hit a nerve. She faintly heard the DJ start the music in the main hall. Still no sign of her parents, she tried to calm herself down. It was probably just a bad traffic jam.

While everyone else was watching the cooks bring out the wedding cake, she one her tip toes trying to spot out her parents. Finally, she spotted them way at the back, getting through security. She let out a sigh of relief, and turned her attention to where everyone else's was.

To put it bluntly, the cake was huge. As was everything else she had been introduced to in the world of fame. And she hated it all. She would have rather had a home cooked burnt-to-a-crisp cake rather than this giant... thing.

She kept her eyes on the back of the wall when they cut the cake, she didn't want to see everyone grinning at them or gawking in awe. She wasn't a specimen at a zoo, and she didn't want to be treated like one.

The crowd had departed slowly after the cake cutting, and she was pretty sure they were getting ready to go find dance partners as the first dance was coming up soon. Wonderful.

It was as Squall was dragging her over to the meet some press people she spotted the man that been at the podium earlier. The blonde paused a moment taking a look at where Squall was dragging her and where the other man was. Then, she pulled her arm away from Squall and walked over to the man.

Squall stopped and literally stared a moment before rolling his eyes and walking after her. The man looked up at her and gave her a small friendly smile. "Hi."

Quistis smiled. "Hi. I assume you're Squall's father?" The man nodded. "Thank you for trying to do a speech. I'm sorry for Squall's behaviour, he was being extremely rude."

The man shook his head, "Nah. I guess he had a right to. I was never a great dad, I was never there for him his whole life." The blonde didn't have anything to say to that so kept quiet.

"Laguna." Quistis whipped around at the voice, before glaring at him. "I don't want you talking to my wife."

The blonde opened her mouth to protest but got cut off by the sound of an announcement by the DJ. "Would the married couple please come to the patio for the first dance?"

It was as the crowd ushered them to patio, she decided she was really starting to dislike dancing.

o o o

The crowd had already gathered by the time they had gotten there. Immediately, she spotted her parents in the front and waved to them while numerous camera flashes went off. Then the band struck up with some song she had never heard before, but she assumed everyone else knew it was everyone else was mouthing the words.

She repressed a groan as she let Squall put his arms around her. Yeah. She was starting to hate dancing, alright. Very much so. Now, most wives at his moment would be fawning over how much they love their husbands. She was currently planning how to explain the divorce to her parents. Cheating would be a good excuse. Yes, that would work.

The cameras were starting to give her headache. A major head ache. Oh how she hated both Squall and the press. Over his shoulder, she could see her mother crying. She was sincerely hoping it was of happiness. She gave them a small smile to try and assure them she was fine and 'happy'. Ha. As if.

Finally, the song ended and the crowd gave a loud applause. Of course, Squall took it all in stride and egotistically waved their flattery away; when of course, he loved it. "Alright, now for the dance with the parents. That means Mr. Leonheart will dance with Mrs. Trepe" he paused a moment. "The other Mrs. Trepe." Everyone stared blankly. "Your wife's mother!" He said pointing to Quistis and then her mother. "And your wife will dance with your father." The DJ announced.

Squall's jaw dropped and he immediately shot the DJ a glare to tell me to un-announce that last bit. Or else. The DJ dutifully ignored him and Quistis gave Squall have a small wave and a smirk as she walked off to Laguna, while Squall was dragged off to the dance floor by her mother (who seemed thrilled with the idea).

She was assuming Laguna hadn't heard the announcement because when she had tapped him on the shoulder and asked him to dance, he had said something about her being married. However, after some persuasion and persisting it was only parents dance he agreed. Much to Squall's anger that is.

The blonde allowed herself to grin at her mother's expression, she looked like she was going to faint in sheer delight soon. Squall looked pissed, to put it bluntly. After a minute or so, she could tell Laguna was a bit uncomfortable dancing so she excused herself early to go dance with her own father. He gladly accepted.

"Your mother looks like she's having a good time." Her father grit out, Quistis laughed.

"I'm sure she's just humouring the DJ." She said, trying to comfort him. The crowd suddenly started clapping and Quistis had to stand on her tiptoes to see over the crowd. Her eyes bugged, they were doing the dip.

Both her and her father starred in disbelief. All they needed was a tango rose and they were all set. Her father let out a low whistle, obviously impressed. She heard the song end the crowd disperse. "So I guess you two will going on your honeymoon soon, eh?" She nodded.

"We're going to Winhill. I'm not sure for how long, though." He nodded, he actually knew where it was.

"Looks like you husband wants you back." Her father said with small smile, pointing her in the direction. Reluctantly, she walked over to him and took his hand.

The crowed awwwwed. She groaned.

o o o

It was around 3am when the reception party ended; and after saying goodbye to all the guests she was literally almost falling sleep while walking to the limo. Even if they _were _going to do anything on their wedding nights, she would have been too tired to.

The moment she was inside the limo she was asleep. On Squall's shoulder. Great. He rolled his eyes and tried to get her off. No such luck. She was dead asleep. He let out a feral sounding growl and moved his shoulder in another attempt to get her off.

She landed on his lap. "Wonderful." Squall said sarcastically; moving around to pick her up propped her against the opposite side of the limo. There, he thought proudly. It was a good hour's drive to the his personal jet building where he literally had to pick her up and put her in a seat as she completely and totally down for the count.

He was dead tired, but still managed to keep awake through the flight; flipping through random news channels seeing what they all said about the wedding. Mostly good things, the bride looked gorgeous ect. Then came the clips of the famous Laguna Loire, president of Esthar. Squall sighed, he couldn't believe Laguna had the nerve to show up at his own wedding after a good 10 years of no communication. The nerve!

It made him angry just thinking about it. Squall took a deep breath, getting angry wouldn't do him any good. Not a lot of things were doing him any good these days. His wooing attempts hadn't been getting anywhere either. Getting her parents there early hadn't gotten him anywhere. She was hard to impress though and even harder to woo. He would maybe get somewhere and she would frustrate him so much he would completely forget what was on his agenda and say something stupid.

He gave up on his agenda thoughts and closed his eyes in an attempt to sleep, but he wasn't even asleep for a good twenty minutes when the flight personal had told them they were at Winhill. Squall groaned before turning over and looking at his wife. Who was _still _asleep.

After people had landed the jet, he had two more people accompany him to the inn and drop off the bags, as he was carrying her. And for the record, she looked a hell of a lot lighter than she felt. After getting the damn key, he almost dumped her on the bed. Well, actually, he did. He just hoped she wouldn't remember in the morning.

And there was just something about her that made him wonder what exactly he had gotten himself into. Truth be told, all the women he had met in his life had either been too shy or polite to ever say something bad to him; either that or they just thought they had been thrown into some sappy romance novel and he was the knight in shinning armour coming to rescue them. Not her. No, no. She was more than ready to pick a fight with him, and he wasn't used to that. Seriously, he wasn't. But, to him, it was just a minor set back.

He would win her over. And he always got what he wanted.

o o o

Sleeping beauty would have been put to shame. Squall had gotten up at least three hours before her, eaten breakfast, worked on his book for about another three hours and she was _still _asleep. He was starting to think that he had dropped her on her head or something and she had died. It would have made sense.

Oh well. He was quite content with silence; he didn't need anyone babbling onto him like idiots, and if they did, he'd tune them out anyways.

It was around 3 pm she had woken up. Groggily, she made her way to the bathroom, nearly tripping over herself. Squall starred after her, his eye brow slightly raised. Maybe they did spike the punch after all. He shrugged and went back to typing.

A few minutes later he heard the shower starting. He wasn't sure if it brought back good or bad memories. Bad as he had been whacked by a pillow, or good, on the side that he had gotten to see in her in a towel. He had to admit though, she was fairly attractive, she just drove him up the wall. Literally. She drove him insane, the way she was always trying to one up and piss him off on purpose.

It would have been so much easier if he had just gotten married to another star. So much easier. But now that he thought about, he didn't even remember how they had met. They had obviously met up at a bar, and knowing her alcohol tolerance (or lack there of) she had obviously been drunk; he probably had been too.

How did she even get into the bar? She obviously didn't have the money to get into the expensive types of bars...which meant that he was probably in a cheap one. There went his reputation. At least they had ended up in an worthy hotel. For once, he was thinking on the bright side. Damn, Rinoa and Selphie must have been rubbing off on him.

The water stopped, and after a few minutes she appeared. She completely ignored him as she walked by, not that he had expected her to say 'Good morning my beloved husband' and give him a kiss. Pfft. As if.

He watched as she pulled open the curtains and looked outside before turning to him. "I'm going out." Squall raised an eyebrow, as she walked over to the door.

He rolled his eyes. "Wait." Squall saved his work and placed the lab top in his bag before getting up and walking over to her. "I'll go with you." The blonde gave him a weird look, as if she _knew _he was planning something. He inwardly laughed nervously.

She said nothing but walked with him, stopping occasionally to look at different flowers and the scenery. Personally, he didn't see what the big deal was, if he wanted to look at flowers he could just search the net for flower pictures. It was silence for the whole trip. Not even one word, unless insults counted.

On they way, she stopped and starred at all these different things, and he soon found himself starring too. It was contagious or something. Eventually, she stared noticed he was looking at things too and starting point out things he wouldn't have noticed. Or it could have just been that he had never taken the time to look before. Mind you, she still wasn't even on speaking terms with him, and even when she did point out anything it was in a monotone voice.

It was weird. He almost felt calm. He had never experienced this before. No side ways looks, no fan girling, no reporters...

...God, he was scared.

o o o

The next four hours were silent with the occasional insult thrown back and forth, but for the most part silent. He was perfectly content to listen to the crickets chirping, an unusual sound he had never heard before. All he had ever heard in the city was swearing, cars, music and television audio. Other than the crickets it was silent, and it made him uneasy. It was like the horror movies where the sound goes mute and someone gets get killed by some random axe murder. He shuddered, he'd just have to substitute the axe murdered with his wife.

Speaking of which, where was she? He looked around the room, she wasn't there. Oh great. How would he explain this to the press? His wife just randomly went missing on the night of their honeymoon, which so far was _extremely_ uneventful? Squall stretched, he had been staring at the computer too long anyways. The brunette got up and looked around the room again.

Oh yeah. The balcony. He had reserved the side of the hotel where you could see the ocean, which would have been romantic under different circumstances. For example, if they actually stand each other's presence. Squall walked over to the balcony door and opened it, popping his head out to see if she was there.

She hadn't seemed to noticed him, much to his luck or else he might have gotten a smack. Squall took a breath and nearly choked. It was so clean. He wasn't used to _clean _air, his lungs had probably completely adjusted to inhaling pollution filled air.

Squall looked upwards to the sky. Stars. He hadn't seen those in quite a few years. Not the ones in the sky anyways. "I guess you don't see many stars in the city, do you?" Her voice made him jump slightly. Her voice held no emotion, at least not for him anyways.

"No." Squall answered quietly. Any other woman in this situation would be playing the sappy loved songs and literally be holding up a sign saying 'Kiss me, you idiot.' If she had been holding a sign it would have said 'Drop dead.'

"Can you see them in Balamb?" He asked quietly. She nodded, not even looking at him.

"They said there would be a meteor shower tonight but I haven't seen any yet." Her voice was calm and quiet. Not quite holding the 'I hate you so damn much' tone of voice that it usually did.

Squall examined the sky again. Nothing. Then a star streaked by. "There." She looked up, and another one streaked up followed by quite a few more. She turned to him and gave him a small smile before looking back up at them.

Drop dead, indeed.

Well everyone, I'm proud to say I finally got my art project done, and I got a good mark too. Um, let's see; Forget Me Not might not be updated until next week or something... I'm on writer's block with that. Oh yeah. I'm working on the revised Blue Magic first chapter; because the other day I reread and I couldn't help but think that fic is the worst Quall fanfic written. Ever. Thanks so much for the reviews everyone!

TheNoLifeQueen First things first; I'm sorry I'm upset you so much. It wasn't intended. To make it a Seiftis was only an idea; I was considering writing a Seiftis for awhile ago to figure out what all the hype about the pairing was. However, I realized I don't support the couple and I think that if I wrote it I wouldn't be able to give it my whole effort and I wouldn't be able to stand it. I'm not mad at you, don't worry. I think that if I found one a Quall story I really liked was originally supposed to be a Seiftis I wouldn't be very happy either.


	10. Jealousy

The honeymoon, so far was uneventful. It was only the second day and it was still as uneventful as watching someone read when you can't even read over their shoulder.

Yes. _That_ uneventful. He was starting to think this was a waste of time. Sure, there had been a smile. Big deal. People smile at strangers they don't even know sometimes. She hated him. Period.

Squall sighed. He was going have to step up his efforts. Big time. Obviously small little things seemed to get him a few microscopic brownie points; so he was assuming maybe he was at -9999 points now. Maybe.

Currently, he as outside of the hotel room making a call on his cell phone. No way in hell was he being caught on a pay phone. Again. Once it had started ringing he held it up to his ear and waited. The other line clicked and there was a sound of fumbling papers before a voice reached the phone.

__

"So how's the honeymoon? Getting any?" That was Irvine. Obviously. Who else would ask such a raunchy question?

"How did you know it was me?"

There was a sound of tapping on the phone. The other man was probably tapping his finger on the phone. _"Caller ID. Doesn't your cell phone have it? Besides, you never answered my question."_

Squall rolled his eyes. "Not even a damn kiss. Why weren't you at the wedding? You were supposed to be handling the press." He accused icily.

_"I was. Literally." _Irvine replied giddily. _"There was the hot woman from channel five, and let me tell you; she had big racks-"_

"Irvine. Shut up. We both know you're a virgin." Squall added dryly. And it was true. As much as his manager loved to flaunt about; the fact was plain and simple. He was still virgin. And Squall loved to remind Irvine of that.

_"Yeah, yeah hot shot. Should I remind you so were you too as of two weeks ago?"_

"..." Squall's eyes flattened. "Shut up and make sure you get ID passes for us for the next charity ball. I'm going to try my hand at sucking up."

Irvine laughed on the other line. _"Good luck. You're gonna need it."_

And he was. Squall mentally sulked and hung up the phone angrily.

Squall took a deep breath and mentally calculated his to do list. Talk to Peter, finish his current book, woo Quistis and officially whip Seifer Alsamy's ass. First things first (and possibly the most dangerous of them all) woo Quistis Trepe. God help them all. He didn't want to die early, but he would do this. After all, it was just a woman. A woman who worked as a mercenary, a woman who wouldn't automatically fall head over heels for him. He took another deep breath, he could do this. He would do this.

The brunette found himself wandering down the hall to her room. He had read somewhere that communication was one the important factors in a relationship. Damn. This meant he would actually have to talk to her. Squall ran his fingers through his hair. Fine. That meant that he would just talk about things that would make her pity him; ask how she was doing, suck up; say she was beautiful, blah, blah, blah. You know the drill. The hard part was whether she would fall for it or not.

Cautiously, he opened the door. He had seen undertones of PMS the day before and he had no idea what would happen if he pissed her off. He had heard rumours of women being violent when they were PMSing but then again she was violent when she wasn't so he could only imagine what she would be like it she was. Visions of her slitting his throat in the night made him shudder.

She was sitting by the window and so far looked docile, slowly he walked to her and sat beside her. She didn't look at him. "How did you sleep?"

"Why do you ask?" She murmured. "You obviously don't care."

Ouch. Talk about mood swings. Were all women this bitchy when they PMSed? "I care." Squall said, magically keeping a straight face. "I don't want you to get sick."

She shot him an icy glare, and he immediately backed off. Damn. This would be harder than he thought. Fine, he'd just have to pull a low blow. He was an expert at those. "You miss your parents, don't you?" He asked quietly. Yeah. It was low alright.

Very low. But at least he got an answer. She nodded, and he mentally gave himself a thumbs up. Now he had something to build upon. "I suppose you don't miss your father at all." She said softly. Squall twitched in annoyance. She sure knew how to push his buttons.

"No." He said curtly. "I don't need him. I don't need anyone." The blonde let out a small laugh at his comment. He tilted his head at her curiously, and she finally calmed herself down enough to reply.

"Everyone needs someone, even if it's just to talk everyone once in a while." She told him matter of factly. Squall frowned at her logic.

"Whatever." He said coldly, shrugging it off. He didn't see the point in the statement, he could get fine by himself; he had for the past 10 years. The blonde laughed again and he shot her a withering glare. "What's so funny?" He snapped. He always hated being the butt of the jokes.

She sobered up and held her hands up in defence. "Nothing." Squall sighed, here he was screwing things up again; at this rate she wasn't even going to tolerate him. "I'm going out." Squall said abruptly, standing up and leaving. The blonde raised an eyebrow and watched him leave before letting out a sigh and following him. It wasn't like there was anything to do in the rickety old hotel anyways.

Squall in the meanwhile, was secretly smirking to himself. The oldest trick in the book, and it still worked. The blonde was quickly walking and eventually matching his pace, he ignored the glares she kept sending his way.

Again, the for the second time in the 'town' or lack there of. Mainly, lack there of. There wasn't much there in the way of shops. There wasn't much there. Period. Neither of them talked, and it was mainly, utter, utter silence. Until someone broke it. "Squall! Squall Leonheart!" Honestly, Quistis could say she had never seen anyone turn around or looked as shocked as Squall had.

A girl had come flying, yes almost to the point of flying, out ff a near by house and latched on to the brunette's arm. Both Quistis and Squall were equally matched on the surprised face. "Oh my gosh! I can't believe it's actually you! I'm your hugest fan!" The girl rambled, Quistis starred in disbelief at the girl. Who'd be a fan of _him_?

"Thank you." Squall said smoothly and the girl began engaging him in a conversation like his wife was non existent or invisible. She felt like smacking him upside the head or something, being sarcastic and rude was one thing, ignoring her was another.

He, however, was quite impressed to know that even in the middle of no where (which was his geographical terms for Winhill), he was still fancied by women. Oh, yes, in his mind, he was the ultimate man, women worshipped the ground he stepped on. Yes, again, reminding you, this is purely his imagination.

"I love your books!" The girls cooed. Quistis rolled her eyes. Bet that wasn't the only thing she loved. "You're like, the best writer, like, ever!" Cue the cute, big blue eyes and the innocent little wrapping her finger around her hair and twisting it cutely.

"Why thank you." Squall said smoothly, flashing the lady killer grin. Which could possible actually result in the death of a lady as Quistis was currently suppressing the urge to go smack the other girl up the head and ask her what childhood trauma had resulted in her worshipping _him_. The girl, again, let out a small laugh, and waved her hand, blushing.

She rolled her eyes. Did she have to hold up a flashing neon light sign that said : SQUALL'S WIFE, or something in order to have some sort of chance in escaping this ... horrible, horrible scene? "No one here knows you! I'm like your only fan..." The girl trailed off, pulling an angst spotlight moment. "I feel like I'm the only one here, sometimes." She whispered.

"In that case, I might have to show you you're not. How about you show me around?" Squall said. The girl almost screamed in delight, and grabbed his arm.

Fine. She didn't have to deal with this. She took one look at them and started walking back. "Asshole." She muttered under her breath. And yet, her inner voice kept nagging her with the constant chanting of 'jealous'. That was she was jealous of his newly acquired fan girl. Pfft. As if she'd be jealous that a girl got him. Hah. If men were prizes, he'd be the booby prize.

Jealous. Jealous. Jealous. She rolled her eyes, she was getting out of her. And fast. Yeah right. Her jealous of some idiotic self-worshipping, egotistical jack ass. Suuuure.

Luckily, the hotel hadn't been far; and hadn't been populated so when she had come stomping back angrily muttering not-so-nice things about a certain Mr. Leonheart; only one or two people had stared. She growled into her pillow, thinking about how much she wanted those damn divorce papers to appear in thin air. In the end, they never did and she ended up falling asleep.

o o o

Hours later, Squall walked back to the hotel feeling proud. However had said jealousy was the way to getting a girl to fall for you was right. Not only had he gotten a phone number, e-mail and arranged a date to be oh-so-not-inconspicuous; he had succeeded in getting his wife jealous. Now, he only had to get her to realise he was here. The dashing knight in shining armour.

After digging his key out of his pocket opening the door, fully expecting to be smacked or something but nothing had happened. He squinted, trying to make out figure. Eventually he found it on the bed, he walked over and knelt beside her; deciding that when she was asleep she was almost... almost kind of _cute._

Maybe. He sighed, not wanting to turn the light on. Not that he cared or anything, just not to have her wake up and throw a hissy fit or anything. Or so he told himself. Yeah. That sounded like a good excuse.

"You're back." He nearly jumped a foot in the air, he could have sworn she was asleep. Now, this wasn't a welcoming voice. This was an icy I-hate-your-guts-and-hope-you-die voice. He nearly had goose bumps from the voice.

"Yeah." He said coolly. He could almost feel her eyes narrowing.

"Did you have fun?" She asked scathingly.

He smirked. Two could play it that way. "Why? Are you jealous?" She made a sound that sounding like a feral cat's growl.

"No!" She snapped defensively.

"Goodnight then." Squall said in the end-of-discussion.

o o o

In the morning, she wasn't in a better mood. At all. Whatsoever. In fact, it was probably worse. Which was all apart of his plan. As long as it didn't result in his own death. Which at his rate it probably could as she looked like she would kill him.

Now, in her head; being pissed off was the only logical thing to do. She was stuck with an egotistical idiot, in a rickety old hotel, when her _husband (_ who _was _the egotistical idiot) was out with his fan girl. "I'm going out." To see his fan girl. Yes. She could put two and two together alright.

"Fine." She said coldly. If he was going to go off and flaunt about with another woman, that was his business. She smirked, what an idiot. For all the time he worried about having a good image, he sure wasn't worried about what the press would say about him cheating on his wife. Unless, of course that would get her out of this whole marriage predicament sooner...But still!

She heard the door closing but she didn't bother getting up. He wasn't worth her time anyways. But seriously, why would _any _girl like him? He was nothing to desire, except for maybe looks, but definitely not personality.

Okay, fine. Maybe he had been a little nice when teaching her how to dance. But even then, it had only been for a second. He was mainly self absorbed, except for the whole hiring Rinoa thing, but that didn't count any since he had blown her off anyways. And when he had let her stay the extra day, and had arranged for her parents to get there early...

Oh shit. Fine. Maybe, deep, deep, deeeeeeep down there might, miiiiight have been a slight chance of redemption for him. Maybe she might even have attempted to think about apologizing. She sat down on the bed and sighed, it was only another 40 days or so; there was really no point in being at each other's throats the whole time. Being taught since she was old enough to be taught that anyone can be forgiven... well almost anyone; was starting to kick in.

Another sigh. Then the door opened, she lazily looked up, and then it fully registered, nearly resulting in whiplash. "I thought you were out with your fan girl." She said quietly, somewhat relaxing.

"I said I was going out. I never said I was going out to see her." He said coolly.

She was silent for a moment.

"Here." She only just barely caught what was being thrown at her. A book. Great. It was probably his own, she thought dryly. Self advertisement. Only for once, it wasn't. "Your mother," He somewhat grit out the mother part, and for a moment she wondered if her mother got a bit carried away on the dance floor. "said you liked these books." He shifted his weight for a moment before giving her a small that barely even passed the smile mark.

She didn't know quite what to say. Sure, she had had plenty of gifts showered on her before from the Trepies, and plenty of affection as she was fairly sure some of those female Trepies swung both ways. Mainly hers. But this was different. An actual genuine gift. Or so she was hoping. She had some strange idea that it might have been some sort of invitation to a ball or something inside she would be dragged to. And even so, the words thank you never really did surface. Not yet anyways.

"Why did you go out with her?" The words came before a thought towards them did. And for a moment, there she was going to apologize. Until he spoke.

"Why were you jealous?" He retorted. There he went again. Ruining any chance he had with her.

"I wasn't. I think your imagination is running away with you." She said getting up, walking over to her side of the room. Squall stood up and quickly grabbed her wrist, yanking her towards him and placing his mouth over hers. This could be the death of him.

After a moment, he pulled away but only an inch or so; looking at her quite seriously. And by the looks she was giving him, she was quite ready to kill him then and there, right on the spot. "I'll give you a choice this time. Say no, I won't kiss you. Say nothing, and I will."

"No." She said firmly.

"Don't lie." He told her, stealing another kiss. A quick one, not the black and white romance silent movies ones, where the whole female audience got out their little handkerchiefs and cursed their husbands for not kissing them like that. Yeah. Those kind of kisses were meant for other stories. Where the 'couple' could actually stand each other's guts.

"I wasn't." Again, he kissed her, pulling away only after a moment. She seemed a bit less ready to throttle him this time.

Maybe it was then, she decided maybe beyond the exterior jack ass qualities, which were plenty, in fact, countless; there might have been something worth while. If he could ever get past this damn, 'I know you want me. Bad.' stage of mind.

"Tell me." He said quietly, and for a moment, he sounded almost honest. Almost. Barely passing the line between kinda-sorta and almost. Squeaking by was more like it.

Silence. He eyed her carefully, this time. He had a bad feeling about this kiss, like she was ready to knee him the moment get got within a few centimetres of him.

He leaned in slow giving her plenty of time to pull away. She didn't this time. It was a slow, nice kiss this time. Not demanding, to piss her off, or just to show the reporters that there were romantically involved. And for a maybe a second there, only a second he had other thoughts on his mind other than the dastardly one involving making her fall in love with him just for the money, fame and glory. And the sex. But that was hardly an issue at the moment.

Because then the door opened, and in walked Irvine.

First of all, I would like to apologize for the long wait. I've been busy working. Yes, I work. Surprise, surprise considering how lazy I am. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I'm rather iffy about, but then again, I am about all the chapters in every story I write.

Vermilliondream: Yeah, I know. I need an editor. Anyone up for the job? Actually, I'm surprised you picked up on the slight spelling differences. Now, as much as I would love to say I'm from England, I'm from Canada. Yeah. Canada, eh? Bring on the igloo jokes. Anyways, I never would have picked up on it if I had read someone else's works; you've got a very sharp eye. Cool name by the way.


	11. Ducks

He honestly felt like going over there and personally shoving his manager over the railing on the balcony. Finally! Finally, the one time he was getting somewhere and his damn manager had to walk in! Squall pulled away and sent a drop dead glare to the other man.

Irvine let a low whistle. "Should I come back later?" He asked, tipping his hat. After a good six years, Squall still had no idea why the hell he wore that wretched cowboy hat. In his opinion, it was as ugly as hell; and Irvine thought the women loved it.

"No." Squall grit out. "It's... fine. What are you here for?" That part was painful to get out without doing anything violent. Quistis was currently trying to will herself invisible. Evidently, it didn't work.

"Such bad habits. Are you going to tell me this pretty lady's name?"

"She's my wife, Irvine." Squall said dryly. "I'd like to think you at least know her name."

His manager grinned, walking up to the blonde and bending low to kiss her hand. "Television does you no justice, my lady." Squall let out a barely audible growl. Irvine sighed, "If I only we had met sooner, I would have swept you off your feet."

"Irvine.." That was a warning. His wife seemed to be oblivious to it though, trying to escape Irvine's charm. The other man wasn't catching any hints any time soon, either.

Squall rolled his eyes. "Can we have a minute please?" He grit out to his wife, grabbing his manager's arm and hauling him outside. Literally.

"What's wrong?" Irvine asked, a hand on his hips looking at the other man. "Ohhh." A smile appeared on his face. "I get it your jealous that I'm hitting on your lady. And here I am thinking she means nothing to you. Foolish me."

"She doesn't." Squall said coolly, putting his hands in is pocket.

"Of course not." Irvine said, humouring the other man. "But to me, it's looks like Squall Leonheart's finally found the girl that puts all the others way behind." Squall scowled.

"Don't be stupid. Don't you think if I was going for a woman, I'd be aiming a hell of a lot higher?"

Irvine shrugged. "She looks higher that all those famous bimbos if you ask me. They may have looks and money, but that's all they've got."

"What did you really come here for?" Squall asked, leaning against the wall.

The other man dug into his pockets, producing a pair of tickets. "These."

Squall took them gingerly, before looking up. "You look you're going to say something. Spit it out."

Irvine grinned. "You know, money's easy to come by; but girls like that you don't come across very often."

The author rolled his eyes. What a stupid thing to say. "I don't care about girls" he paused a moment, doing air quotations. "like that. If she gets me what I want I'll keep her, if not, there's no need for her. You should know by now that I wouldn't risk my career for a single girl."

"We'll see." Irvine said cryptically. Squall shot him a glare. Dumbass. His manager gave him a wave as he walked down the old stairs. "I only stopped by to see your wife and drop off the tickets. So, I'm outta here now." He called, putting on a pair of sunglasses. Sunglasses and a cowboy hat. Squall had one thought crossing his mind - what a nerd.

"Irvine," The other man turned around. "Say hello to Selphie for me."

Irvine coughed and then left without another word. Squall smirked in triumph.

Unfortunately for Squall, this wasn't one of those times you could just walk back in and slyly say 'so where were we?' Stupid manager. Hinting at all that love crap and then ruining any chances he had with her. Dammit.

He opened the door and walked in, she peered at him curiously waiting for Irvine. "He left," Squall told her. "He's going to Deiling, he just stopped into between flights to say hello."

"I see." She said quietly.

Awkward silence. Squall coughed. More silence. Then he sighed, and shifted for a moment. "I want to take you somewhere."

She looked up at him, surprised at the sudden comment. "What?"

"Are you coming, or not?" She hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Come on then." He got up, not waiting for her to follow, even though he knew she was.

More awkward silence. Shuffle. Shuffle. Creak. Silence.

This definitely hadn't gone his way. He didn't get why. All the other women he had meet had swooned over him when he had kissed them - why was she so different? She probably still had jet lag when he kissed her. Squall groaned. Business was one thing, women were another. And she, she was in class all her own. The I-will-kill-you-if-you-even-attempt-to-think-about-undressing-me-with-your-eyes-six-feet-under-dead-dead class.

Great. Now he couldn't even find the damn spot he had found yesterday. He smacked his forehead in frustration; he planned it oh so nicely too. Take her there, compliment her, win her over and if he was lucky, get a kiss. Or more. But none of it would even take place if he couldn't find the spot first.

Squall checked around for a moment before walking forwards and then checking some more. Ah-hah. He mentally gave himself a high five once he found it. "Here." He called, waving her over.

If this wasn't the most romantic place in the middle of no where, he didn't know what was. Right above the docks on the hill. And yes, he knew he was smooth. Squall looked out on the horizon before taking off his jacket and putting it down before sitting on it. She raised an eyebrow at his antics before sitting down beside him.

"A little dirt won't kill you." She told him, he shrugged in response.

"You never know." He said, crossing his arms. She let out a small laugh at his comment, and he felt oddly proud. Just slight twinge, anyways; as he would later claim in defence.

Her laughter died down, and then there was silence. "Why do you hate your father so much?" She asked quietly. He shifted uncomfortably.

"He's an idiot." He knew she was expecting more, and sighed. "My mother was pregnant with a second child when I was around nine or something; she died in child birth. She knew she was dying, and asked him to stay with her." He clenched his fist. "And the idiot stayed with her. He could have gotten help instead, and they might have lived..." It suddenly occurred to him he had talked a lot more than he planned to, and immediately shut up. "Never mind." He muttered. "Forget I said anything." She nodded.

Even more silence. "I see."

"Yeah." Squall said awkwardly.

"Do you miss her?"

He rolled his eyes. Duh. "Yeah."

"Have you ever tried talking to your father about it?"

Squall sighed. "Laguna? He's a bumbling idiot. He trips over his own shadow, for God's sake."

She was quiet for a moment before she started laughing. He cocked his head and starred at her for a moment. Was she actually _picturing_ Laguna tripping over his own shadow? It wasn't even that funny, he thought dryly; but she looked amused trying to stop laughing at his snide comment. He allowed himself a small smile, reaching up and brushing a few strands of stray hair away from her face.

She stopped laughing when she noticed he was staring at her, and instead let out a small giggle that nearly made him do a double take. Squall took the opportunity to give her a kiss, his hands tangling in her hair. He pulled away for moment and looked at her. She was quiet, and for a moment he thought hopefully she had a love struck look on her face. Nope. She started laughing again. Oh, his ego.

"What are you laughing at?" He asked, confused.

She paused a moment, regaining her breath. "I'm not sure anymore." Squall took one look at her expression and started laughing. She joined him almost immediately. She leaned on his shoulder trying to recall the last time she had laughed that hard and produced nothing. She had always been mature for her age, and at school she had never had the chance to have the normal childhood.

Oh yeah. He had tamed the beast, alright. Squall smirked to himself. He was good.

Real good.

o o o

They left the next morning. And from experience, he had noted that she was not a morning person. Really not a morning person. At all. What so ever. She had nearly attacked him when he had attempted to wake him up. And by nearly meant quite literally nearly. She had grabbed the closest thing to her (the vase) and whipped at his head.

Luckily, he had managed to dodge it in the nick of time. But the manager hadn't been too happy about a three hundred dollar vase being broken in a 'lover's spat'. Or so the manager thought; just because it was easier to explain than 'my-wife-is-extremely-irritable-and-happens-to-be -a-mercenary-which-means-she-has-damn-good-aim.' That, and by the time he would have explained it all he would have probably fainted from lack of air.

And after the vase had been the alarm clock, a book and finally a shoe until she had finally awoken; and now that he thought about it, she never did apologize. However, after the initial waking up process she was pretty much tolerable. They even had a small talk involving air services; which truthfully was mostly about all the female flight crew flirting with Squall. Not that he minded, of course.

And of course, she had been more than happy to be on solid ground once the flight was over. Almost to the point of debating to go and hug the nearest limo driver. Almost. Instead, she had settled on greeted him and asked how he was doing before opening the car door.

Which nearly meant a heart attack at the tender age of twenty. An albino woman and a man were sitting in the back seat. The woman looked at her and then Squall before turning to her accomplice and giving him a hard kick in the shin.

Both Quistis and Squall winced in sympathy. "GREET." The woman said turning to the man.

The man cleared his throat. "I'm Rajin, and this Fuujin, you know?"

They both nodded.

"EXPLAIN."

"We were sent by Seifer to make sure you got home okay."

Squall rolled his eyes. "He sent us body guards." He turned to them. "To protect us from what, his fan girls?"

"RAGE!"

The blonde raised an eyebrow at her husband's expression before letting out a small chuckle.

He looked utterly terrified.

o o o

It was a long ride home, and when they got there, the driver could have sworn he had never seen anyone two people walk that far, that fast. So fast, Squall almost tripped the alarm system and got mobbed by Rinoa and Selphie who thought he was a bugler.

In the end, he ended up getting mobbed anyways. "How was the trip?" Selphie asked, almost bouncing, and when Squall took a second glance at her, he could have sworn she _was _bouncing.

"Short." Squall said curtly.

Selphie ignored him and proceeded to hug Quistis once she had realised she too, was in the room. Rinoa had skidded in the room a few seconds later on after hearing all the ruckus and joined into the welcome committee.

"We almost thought he'd leave you at the airport!" Selphie confessed later on.

The blonde laughed nervously at that comment.

o o o

Meanwhile, Squall was trying to figure out why Seifer had been so ... weird. Brining his _own _body guards to personally pick him up. Seifer was only nice on two occasions. If he was trying to suck up or he had done something that would seriously piss someone off...

Oh shit. He hastily grabbed the remote and flipped on the television. "In later news, the author Seifer Alsamy has been seen with none other that Squall Leonheart's maid Rinoa Heartily."

Squall's jaw dropped.

No freaking way.

Outside, was just as much commotion.

"Go in!" Selphie said.

The blonde shook her head. "No, he's probably tired." Rinoa and Selphie both looked at each other before looking back at her and giving a sly grin. She groaned. "From jet lag." She said exasperatedly.

Rinoa sighed, leaning against the door, secretly turning the knob. "C'mon Selphie. We can't force her..."

The other girl forced a puppy face. "Yeah.. mega total bummer..." Then grabbed the blonde as Rinoa opened the door and practically threw her in the room.

Huh. Amazing how she always seemed to end up on his bed.

Squall blinked. Then turned his gaze down the blonde that looked like road kill on his bed.

Click. That would be the door shutting.

"And the newest rumour flying around: is Quistis Trepe pregnant? After being seen with baggy clothing, and with her hands on her stomach we might just be seeing Squall Leonheart taking on the challenge of being a father!"

Squall blanched, and turned to her.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not pregnant." She told him.

"How do you know?" He accused, staring at her stomach.

"What do you mean how do I know! I'd know by now!"

He raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "You do look like you put on a bit of weight." He said bluntly.

Her left eye twitched. "I'm not pregnant." She grit out.

"You're sure?"

"I'm not pregnant!" She yelled.

"It would explain the mood swings.." He muttered under his breath.

"I'M NOT PREGNANT!"

The whole house went silent.

Then a cough.

And then more silence.

"So... uh. Guess we don't need this." Selphie said, squeezing a toy rubber ducky, wrapped in a cute yellow ribbon. It quacked happily in response.

Rinoa shook her head sadly, patting the girl on her back. "Nope."

Selphie punched the air. "Booyaka! It's SO cute!"

The whole hallway starred as Selphie giggled nervously.

Whew. That's chapter 11 for you. The Fuujin and Rajin tidbit? That was just 'cause Fuujin's cool. That's my excuse. Ahem. Anyways, I've already got my next project planned out (aka next fanfic) but I'd better get these two done first, hmm? Maybe I'll give you all a preview of it in the next chapter of 'Forget Me Not'?


	12. Quack!

Squall sighed, she hadn't been happy about the rumor at all. Not that anyone in her position would have been but that was besides the point. And when he asked Selphie about anything related to the word 'pregnant' or 'pregnancy' she would give him a weird look and tell him flatly that the other woman wasn't pregnant. _Duh. _The duh part had been specifically put in by Selphie. He wasn't about to ask her, they almost had a yelling match the other night when he had asked her again.

Which nearly made him faint in relief. He was no where near ready to be a father, even the word made him rather uncomfortable. And her during child birth? Hah. He'd be dead within four seconds along with any other unfortunate individuals in the room. PMS was bad enough, he didn't even want to imagine what she'd be like with _more _mood swings. Hell, she had enough for six different people already in his books.

But children and child birth night mares were the least of his night mares. Right now he had to plan how to get to the ball without getting himself killed by her. Or his fan girls, as he was sure they were fairly mad about the new rumors. He also had to plan the best plan of attack about this new 'fling' of his rival and his maid. Breaking them up would be a bit more manipulative and would require thought he wasn't about to give. He estimated that the fling would last about a month before his rival would tragically end it off and grab all the headlines.

He also knew for a fact that Rinoa and Selphie had been scheming about things. What those things were, he didn't know, and frankly, didn't care; as they usually planned something elaborate every two or three months. Like April fools, he shuddered to recall that one. Selphie had gone to great lengths to get a male stripper into the house…

The brunette shook his head to clear all those awful thoughts out of his head, and looked at the clock. It was almost time to go. He was starting to regret inviting himself to that stupid ball. It was too late to back out now, though. He sighed, before walking over to his closet and grabbing the nearest tuxedo. Then, he made a bee line for the mirror, and made an attempt to comb his hair, which failed utterly, then resorted to the extra hair gel. It was just another day after, in his books. He squinted, he didn't look any older. No gray hairs at least. "Happy birthday to me." He muttered sarcastically before glancing back at the tuxedo and frowned.

Damn, those things were itchy.

o o o

Quack. Quack. Selphie grinned at her latest toy - it was so cute! Rinoa sighed, "You sure you asked Peter about this?"

The brunette nodded, squeezing the duck again. "Yep! All systems go!" She said with a small cheer.

The raven haired girl nodded and sat down. Kweh! Rinoa jumped up, startled. "What was that!"

Selphie moved over to where the other girl had attempted to sit and let out a sheepish grin, before holding up a rubber chicibo toy. "Just in case it had been twins." She explained.

Rinoa let out a sigh, and shook her head with a smile. "Okay, time to get her ready." She stretched her arms upwards, before actually moving. "Let's go." The other girl sighed, getting up as well. Lazily, they walked over to the blonde's room and knocked before entering.

Quistis sighed, amazingly all the dresses she got stuck with were always one size too tight for her likings. Selphie walked in and immediately began working on her hair. She didn't know what happened in Winhill, but she did know it definitely hadn't done wonders for the other woman's hair.

Rinoa meanwhile, was wrestling with a necklace that had managed to get itself in one huge knot, eventually, she gave up and handed it over to the blonde who within a few minutes successfully detangled it. Selphie was happily nattering on to Rinoa about the newest shows premiering in the fall while finally finishing the braid she had started on.

"Okay, off you go!" Selphie said shooing her off, before suddenly smacking her forehead. "No, wait, wait!" The ex-instructor turned around confused. "I almost forgot! Today's Mr. Leonheart's birthday!"

Before she could even get a word out, Rinoa intervened. "Don't worry! We've got it covered!" Rinoa said, waving her hands around frantically. The blonde raised an eyebrow skeptically and the brunette pouted. "Here. Give him this." She shoved a present into her hands before shooing her off but not with out a wink of confidence.

Somehow, that wasn't making her feel any better.

o o o

He hadn't bother to greet her at the stair case this time; instead, he just waited outside her door; nearly getting knocked out when she had swung the door open. She jumped a nearly a foot in the air, seeing him there just narrowly a few millimeters away from the door's radius. It took all of his power not to shoot her a glare. His day hadn't been going well, and nearly getting a concussion by a door wasn't helping any.

She offered him an apologetic look, he sighed and nodded before offering his arm to her. He had better be getting brownie points with this, he thought darkly. As they reached the stair case, the whole house hold had gathered and gave an 'awwww' in unison.

He knew for a fact they had been practicing that during the time they had been in Winhill.

He rolled his eyes and ignored them, walking down the stair case, down the hall and out the door to the limo. As usual to his dismay, the limo driver struck up a conversation with _his _wife. He frowned, and leaned back and ignored them after telling him where to go.

Stupid limo driver. She had spent almost a whole month with him and was more likely to screw the limo driver that she had met a total of six times than him. He winced as his ego crashed, burned and disintegrated into a million pieces.

"And how's your sister?" She asked.

"Oh, she's great. She's six months pregnant, you know. I think she's got twins."

"Really? That's wonderful. Tell her congratulations for me." The blonde said with a smile. The limo driver tipped his hat at her, with a thousand watt smile.

She smiled back at him, and Squall mentally gagged.

"Alright miss, we're here."

The brunette thanked his lucky stars before looking out the window. Then he cursed them.

"Where are we?" He asked, narrowing his eyes. "This isn't were the ball is supposed to be."

The limo driver looked out the window. "Well, this is where the directions I were given led to."

"This isn't-"

The driver shrugged. "Are you sure? Why don't you check it out? Here are the invitations, maybe they'll tell you where the proper directions are."

Squall let out a audible growl, and his wife sighed. "I'll go in then and ask for directions." She shot a glance at Squall muttering, "Men and directions.", under her breath.

The brunette looked from the driver to his wife and then back to his driver, before deciding he had better chances with his wife. He shot the driver a glare before getting out, slamming the door shut and trudging over to the building.

He soon met up with his wife and looked over her shoulder as she unfolded the invitations open to see where the 'proper' directions were.

….Only there weren't any.

Squall squinted at the paper.

_Dear Squall ∧ Quistis, _

Have fun. We don't expect home you home until later, so don't come home too early.

- Quack and Kweh

A key card was nestled in the bottom of the 'invitation'. Quistis raised an eyebrow. "Who is Quack and Kweh?"

o o o

Quack! Kweh! Quack! Kweh! Selphie squeezed the rubber ducky again. Quack! Rinoa smirked, and squeezed the toy chicobo. Kweh!

The butler signaled a time out. "Time! It's official. The ducky is louder."

Selphie punched the air in triumph. "Booyaka!"

Another butler appeared, and raised an eyebrow at the scene but said nothing, and instead cleared his throat so he had the room's attention. "Peter has reported that they have just been dropped off at the hotel."

"Hotel?" Rinoa asked, confused.

"Yes. The hotel on bay view." The butler confirmed.

Selphie paled slightly, before turning to Rinoa. "We only told him to bring them to a restaurant…." She trailed off, before grinning. "But you know, this could work too! Super cool! Booyaka!"

The butler checked his watch. "Oh. Sex in the city is on five minutes. The ping pong tournament will have to wait an hour."

Rinoa quickly put away the plug in score board and box of ping pong balls.

Everyone nodded and departed for the flat screen TV with a few bundles of popcorn.

o o o

"He set us up!" Squall growled, starting to mutter things under his breath that were not very nice.

"That's enough!" She said sharply, turning around. "I'm sure there was just a misunderstanding-"

But when she went to look, the limo was gone.

She sighed, and rubbed her eyes wearily. "Never mind. We'll just call Rinoa and Selphie and ask them to pick us up."

"Have you ever seen any of them drive?" Squall asked, crossing his arms. "Selphie could be colorblind with all the red lights she goes through."

The blonde let out a laugh, before sobering down. "Ask a butler then."

It took a moment before he complied. She was fairly sure he was having a battle with his own inner male about asking for help. He grumbled something about old butlers before punching in the number and listening for the ring tone. Judging by the look on his face she knew whatever he had to say wasn't going to be without quite a few curse words so she quickly grabbed the cell phone out of his hand and answered it herself.

"Hello? Selphie? Oh good. Could you possibly send a butler to pick us up?"

"Uhh… no. Sorry. They're kinda busy."

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "All of them? …..Is that the TV I hear in the background?"

"What? N-no, of course not! It's just the radio, 'cause you know Rinoa likes the radio on! And yeah, everybody's busy, you know, cleaning the house takes a lotta people!"

"But it was clean just yester-"

"Umm, yeah well… You two enjoy yourself at the hotel, okay? Gotta go. Bye! Tee-hee!"

The ring tone came immediately after, and she hung up the phone. She sighed, so that's how the driver got the invitation. She knew something was something up when they had winked at her but had said nothing at the time. "Well, what do you say? Stay here or catch a taxi home?"

He sighed and shrugged before looking at the invitation that held a key card. He was actually somewhat happy to miss a ball for once in his life. "Whatever." He muttered, walking up to the front and showing them the key card before finally finding their room. Frankly, he was too tired to catch a cab not to mention he would look like an idiot if anyone found out. In the back of his mind, he vaguely reminded himself being this carefree was a good way to get killed but he shrugged it off.

Lazily, he opened the door and walked in. With a sigh, she followed him in and nearly did a face plant after tripping over a well placed plant. He raised an eyebrow at her, but said nothing. Strangely, she found herself thankful for that.

He walked past her and sat down on the bed. It occurred to him vaguely this was the first time they were in a hotel with both of them sober. The thought alone nearly made him shake his head with a small smile. Of course, neither happened.

Slowly, she walked over and sat beside him. "Happy birthday." She said quietly, giving him a small smile. A genuine one for third time in his books. He was making a personal record.

"Twenty one."

"That old?" She asked, with a smile.

It took him a moment to figure out that was her attempt at a joke and not an insult. "Yeah."

She grabbed her purse, or rather Rinoa's purse which happened to match her outfit and dug out weirdly wrapped present gave it to him. He knew off the bat that was Selphie's wrapping style but stayed quiet.

"It's from Rinoa and Selphie." She told him.

He nodded.

"I think they set it up so we would end up here, too." Squall raised an eyebrow at that sudden accusation but then nodded.

"I wouldn't be surprised." He told her.

She starred at it a moment. "Aren't you going to open it?"

He looked from the wrapped present to her, then back to the present before slowly opening it. Nothing popped out much to his relief. A book and chain laid there, he looked up at her. "Both are from them?"

"Yes." He picked up the book and examined it, and paled before examining the chain, of what he assumed to be a lion's head on it before looking up at her.

"You're a terrible liar." He said bluntly.

She sighed. "I originally got it for Zell when Selphie and Rinoa took me shopping, since I thought my parents would be too busy to shop. But it's awhile before his birthday and I owed you for the book."

He paused a moment. "Thank you."

o o o

"So what did you end up getting him?" Rinoa asked, as Selphie intently watched the flat screen TV.

The brunette smirked evilly. "101 Way to Fake a Marriage, the idiot's guide."

Rinoa gawked at the her best friend's bluntness.

The room went silence, then the butler walked in on the preview of the next Sex in the City episode.

"OH MY GOD! SHE _SLEPT_ WITH HIM!"

And that would be chapter 12 for you.

I'm very proud of myself. I just bought a laptop, although I admit whenever I try to type on it I keep accidentally hitting the cap locks button. Maybe it's just because I'm laying down while writing this. Ack, I just did it again. Damn. Anyways, I'm surprised at the amount of people that thought she was pregnant. I almost considered actually making her pregnant for a while there but then decided against it. I for one, have never watched Sex in the City but it was the first show I thought of off the top of my head. Pointless Rinoa & Selphie fun and poking fun at the fanless butlers. Nevermind, I'm sure this butler fan out there somewhere XD

… This is a really stupid chapter. Oh well.


	13. Holidays

"I already told you. No mistletoe." Squall lectured up at Selphie.

"Awww. But it's mistttletooe." She whined, struggling to keep her balance on the ladder while hanging up the lights. "You have to have it!"

"Selphie." He grit out warningly.

The brunette pouted. "Mega bummer. Sheesh."

A few years ago, there had been an incident with mistletoe. A very big incident. One involving our favourite grumpy brunette and a more than willing reporter. Needless to say, it was around Easter when the magazines finally stopped printing articles that had the title that said: LEONHEART AND MS. SHELLY HOT UNDER MISTLETOE.

It hadn't been a good couple of months for the household.

"Whaddabout holly?"

"Holly?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "Who's she?"

The girl sighed in disbelief. "Not a person! You know, deck the halls with balls of holly?"

He shook his head. "Falala, 'tis the season to be jolly?" She asked hopefully. Again, he shook his head. "I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus?" She asked weakly. The brunette shook his head.

"You're hopeless!" Rinoa called from the other ladder. "Why throw a huge party if you don't even like Christmas?"

"Mr. Scrooge!" Added Selphie, grumpily.

"I like Christmas." He protested weakly, before deciding it was a lost battle and turning on his heel. "Make sure you get this up before tonight."

"Yes, sir! -Whoa!" The sounds of a ladder falling to the ground and tinsel flying in all directions left him with little hope that the house would be anywhere near ready for all the guests Irvine had invited.

o o o

"It's like, the biggest event all year!" Selphie said, clapping her hands together.

The raven haired girl beside her nodded, while trying to fix the hair barrettes with the snowflakes on them she had been assigned. "Everyone always comes to it! The house it always packed."

"I take it this is a big deal?" Quistis asked, calmly; secretly voicing the I-don't-want-to-go-please-make-me-go opinion.

"Yesh!" The brunette said, punching her fist in the air. "Mega big deal! We have lights and streamers, hot chocolate and Christmas trees!"

"C'mon, it'll mean a lot to everyone if you go." Rinoa pleaded. Ever since the whole hotel fiasco things had been a bit awkward. And a bit, meant a lot. No one knew what happened. No one asked. Except for Rinoa and Selphie who pestered (in their books, it didn't really count as asking.) But it was assumed things went either really, _really_ well. Or really, _really_ bad. But neither spilled so it remained a mystery they were still trying to crack.

"Plllleeeaaaassseeee?" Selphie pleaded over her shoulder. "Besides, Mr. Leonheart told everyone you'd be there already. Tones of people want to meet you!"

Great. The blonde sighed. Either way, it didn't look like she was going to stand a chance of not going. "I… suppose." She said quietly.

Truth be told, things had been awkward between them since the whole hotel fiasco. They done anything, of course. Not that she would let him get within fifty feet of her naked again after the whole marriage while drunk disaster, to start with but... And it wasn't the talking that had gotten things awkward. It was the being in bed with him while sober for once that got her. Sure, the whole birthday thing had been cute. But it had gone down hill from there. It had gone silent and awkward. Oh so awkward. So, in hopes to save herself a very uncomfortable night, she had volunteered to go to bed early.

Only to wake about two hours later practically on top of him, with his arm around her. Needless, to say; she stayed on her side of the bed for the rest of the night.

For the rest of the night she was awake thinking about how being in a room with Trepies watching her probably would have been less uncomfortable. That and getting up and the morning and having half the hotel lobby looking oddly at them and then having to calmly explain that was the room _beside_ them and have no believe them wasn't spectacular either. Not to mention the fact that she was sure it was only a matter of time before the limo driver and Squall killed each other. In short, the whole hotel idea hadn't been successful. At all. Whatsoever.

But anyways, back to the story at hand, here.

Selphie patted her back reassuringly, with a grin. "Don't worry! It's gonna be tones of fun!"

"Yeah. We've got this huge Christmas tree they're bringing in!" Rinoa added, trying to sound convincing.

The blonde smiled. "Alright, alright. I'll go." She'd go even if was just for those two. It had been about a month now and she was beginning to get a bit comfortable with most of the people; most of the maids knew her by name now; and she had finally figured out where everything was. But she was no where near being content or happy. She missed her family still, her friends, her job. Pretty much everything she was used to and no amount of publicity or fame could replace that same feeling for her.

She sighed as Selphie began on her hair (an ordeal that usually lasted an hour if she lucky). To be honest, she was used to spending the holidays with her family, not four hundred strangers that looked at her like a zoo specimen rather than a person.

Rinoa looked down at her and gave her a smile, before passing Selphie the barrette for her hair. "Don't worry, you'll have a great time. We promise."

Famous last words.

o o o

Three hours later, she was crammed in between women who she was sure had plastic surgery a few times over; and men who were drinking wine like it was water. "Hey! Hey, lemme through! Maid comin' through! Gah. Moooove!" Selphie called over the mass of people, finally decided to push through the crowds by force. "Gawd. This is the biggest crowd ever."

Squall managed to take a moment from his interview and quirk an eyebrow at her. "What are you wearing?" He hissed quietly, while the reported fumbled with the note taking sheets.

Selphie stuck her tongue out at him. "It's festive!" She defended, twirling around in the red and green outfit.

"It's ugly." Squall said bluntly, managing to keep a straight face while his wife stepped on his foot. He shot her a glare before turning back to the reporter.

"Now where was I?" The reported asked, absent mindedly clicking his pen. "Oh right. Now what do you plan on doing for the holidays, Mr. Leonheart?"

"I'm staying home." He said simply, with a smile. The whole room went silent.

"What!" Quistis hissed.

"Whaaaat?" Selphie asked loudly over the silence.

"I see." Said the reporter after a moment, awkwardly. "Ah, thank you for your time then."

"What do you mean you're staying home!" His wife immediately reeled on him the second the reporter turned his back.

"We'll take about this later." He said, cooly.

"We'll talk about this _now_." Great predicament here, Leonheart. Get your wife ready to kill you in broad sight; because you know, the way to a woman's heart is you get her to want to kill you. Wonderful. Any and all chances you just of getting her to like her just flew out the bloody window. Oh, look there they go-

"We're not going to talk about this now." He hissed back.

"Oh yes was are-"

The blonde was cut off by a shrill voice in the crowd. "Squaaallll! Squall Leonheart!"

"Okay. We are." He managed to mutter out, grabbing her hand and pulling through doors outside. Because you know, self; being outside freezing is better than being inside perfectly warm with fan girls his minds snapped sarcastically. He ignored it and briskly walked to the pool house, trying not to just ran like hell and get warm rather than walk dignifiedly.

Once inside, he was wishing he was in below freezing water with a few hundred hungry sharks rather then her. She stared him down and he would have given anything to be invisible at that point. Alright. Say something suave, his mind encouraged. Tell her she's pretty! He had sinking feeling that definitely wouldn't work. See, screwed yourself over here. At least at the party if she killed you could have called 911 and had witnesses! Out here all you have is a pool and brick wall as your witnesses and help, his mind screeched.

"Fine. You wanted to talk about this? Talk." He finally said, crossing his arms. You just signed your death will, his subconscious sang.

"What do you mean we're staying here for the holidays?" She asked angrily, trying to restrain herself from doing something she would probably later deem as stupid.

"I mean that I don't have any interest in seeing your parents again."

She gave him a shove into the pool, and he landed with a loud splash. "It's freezing!" He barked at her.

"Tread water." She snapped at him. "It'll keep you warm for bit." The blonde held back a chuckle at the last part.

He sighed, treading water while trying to look for the ladder. "I never said you couldn't go."

"What?"

"I said-"

"No, I heard what you said." She cut him off abruptly, somewhat standing there looking down at him stupidly. She shifted her weight for a moment between feet before bending down to his level. "Why?"

"Why what?" He asked, somewhat exasperatedly.

"Why would you let me go? You're always the one saying we have to go everywhere together."

Because this is probably the best shot I have at getting myself brownie points? He thought about the answer for a moment, trying to think of one that would get him the most amount of brownie point or something that would get her affection level out of the negative hole. "Because you'd probably want to spend the holidays with your parents."

Wow. Great one. Sounds like you ripped that one off of 'little kitty comes home for Christmas' his mind said sarcastically. "That's it? No catch?" The blonde asked after a moment.

"No catch. Now can you help me up?" She eyed him wearily for a moment before holding out her hands to help him. He gave her a smile before pulling her in with him. Seconds later she submerged, treading water and giving him a rather sour look. "It's heated." She stated dryly, before it finally registered what he had done. "You-!."

He shrugged before cutting her off. "Payback."

She yelled at him for a minute or so and continued to give him a sour look until she final gave up and put those efforts in the treading water. Once the insults died down they were left in silence except for the sound of water. "What will you do then?" She asked quietly after a few minutes.

"What?"

"If I go to my parents, what will you do?"

He paused a second in his treading before continuing. "I just stay here. Usually finish a chapter or two."

The blonde gave him a funny look. "That's all you do? What about Selphie and Rinoa? Do they stay here with you?"

"No." Sympathy points should be coming in soon. Very soon.

She furrowed her brow at him. "Then you're here all alone." Duh. Her brain confirmed. He just said that. She sighed.

Stupid sympathy.

"Do you want to come with me?" Alarm bells in her head went off. You're asking _him_ to stay with you for the week? With your parents? The one week you get alone and you ask him to come with you? You idiot!

The brunette almost forgot to continue to tread water for a moment. He hadn't seen that coming. And he wasn't going to complain. This was the golden opportunity he needed. "…Sure." Good. Don't sound too enthusiastic.

Silence. "Do you know how hard it is to tread water in a dress?"

He gave her an odd look. Obviously not. "Then why are you still here? The ladder's over there."

Her face went a tinge of pink with embarrassment before she began swimming over to the other end of the pool where it was shallow enough so that she could stand without having to tread water. He followed her before stopping for a moment. "Why did you ask?"

She turned around to look at him. "Ask what?"

"Ask if I wanted to come with you. I thought you hated me."

The blonde pursed her lips a moment at the question. "I guess the thought of anyone alone during the holidays is depressing to me. Besides, there's only about two more weeks left." Not that I'm counting or anything.

Two more weeks. Had it really gone by that quickly? She'd starting asking for the papers soon. He pushed the thought aside. It wasn't like he liked her or anything anyways. Just another woman. "I see." He said quietly. Guilt trip, guilt trip, guilt trip. Come ooonnn.

She sighed. "You'd be lonely too."

He raised an eyebrow at her before stepping closer. Amazing how she had sympathy for even him.

"And you'd probably have your obsessive fan girls hunting you down, and stalker calls-" She stopped talking when she noticed how close he was.

"And?"

I-might-possible-under-some-sort-of-alcoholic-beverage-perhaps-miss-you? Pfft. Like she'd say that aloud. "You'd probably get drunk again." She said sternly. "And end up doing something stupid again like…" She trailed off at his look, and sighed. "And despite how frustrating you can be at times, I might just miss you."

Silence.

"Not a lot, though. Maybe just when I have no one to yell at or take my frustration out on, or-"

He cut her off by kissing her.

And surprisingly enough, he didn't get hurt in the process, but he wasn't going to stretch his luck out. He pulled away when she shivered. "Cold?"

"Sort of."

He ran his fingers through his wet hair. "Let's go back then."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "We'll freeze out there."

"Then run fast." He said dryly.

The blonde gave him a flat look, before turning to leave.

Turns out, they did end up running.

o o o

"What do I get them?"

"_Get who?" _

Squall sighed into the phone. "Her parents."

"_I'd be more concerned about what to get her, man." _Irvine said, with a laugh. "_I'd say mistletoe and lingerie." _

He rolled his eyes. "Be serious."

"_I am. Just kidding, chill out. Get her a necklace or something." _

"A necklace? Then what about her parents?"

The other man held back a snort. "_I dunno. Get them like, … Actually, I really don't know. Ask her. No, wait. How about like, a plate set or something?" _

"A _plate set_?" Squall asked, dryly.

"_Sure. Parents love it." _

"You're sure?"

"_Positive, man. They'll love it." _

o o o

"A plate set?" She asked with a raised eye brow.

"Yeah." He said quietly, listening to the limo driver laugh.

"…They've got quite a few of them."

He felt like bashing his head against the window. That's what he got for trusting Irvine.

"Annndd a left here, right Quistis?" The limo driver asked.

Squall visibly twitched. First name basis _and _the directions to her house memorized?

This was not good.

She smiled. "Right."

He narrowed his eyes. This guy had to go. There was no room for a flirty limo driver in the non-existent Squall, Quistis and Squall's ego love triangle.

"And another right here and then we're there, am I right?"

She nodded, and Squall shot a glare at the limo driver. He had to do something about this, or else she'd be eloping with limo driver and leaving him in the cold. Sure. They kissed. Big deal. Maybe they're were on speaking terms without insulting each other too badly. It didn't mean she would be demanding the divorce papers soon though. He sighed. This hadn't been going according to plan at all. She was supposed to fall in love with him, he was suppose to get money, sex and fame, and he was supposed to live happily ever after.

He watched in silence as they pulled up to her house, and she got out of the limo and almost ran over to the door. He found himself following somewhat grinning inwardly that she had forgotten that the poor limo driver had to carry all the luggage by himself. The knocking on the door almost gave him sympathy pains for her knuckle since she was so enthusiastic.

The door opened and they came face to face with her shocked mother. The younger blonde smiled. "We're home." Her mother smiled before hugging her close.

"We weren't expecting you! You didn't give us any warning - I don't have anything cooked!" She rambled on hysterically. "Oh dear. What a poor impression we'll give you your husband…"

He stepped in on cue and gave her lady killer smile. Even Irvine would have been impressed. "It's fine, we ate before we came." Which was a lie - but she didn't have to know that. "Besides for that it's nice to see you again.." How he managed to switch from cold-heartless-bastard to sweet-walk-your-little-old-granny-across-the-street so quickly boggled her mind.

Mrs. Trepe blushed slightly and waved him off. "Ma! Who's there?" Zell asked from inside, poking his head from outside the kitchen.

"It's your sister! Come greet her." No sooner had she said that Zell was outside and had his sister in a hug.

"How have ya been?"

"I'm good. What about you? How have you been?" She asked, examining him.

He laughed, scratching the back of his head. "Good, good! I get the week off for holidays, great, eh?"

Squall felt like groaning but resisted. Wonderful. Her over protective brother was here too.

"Okay, okay. Stop standing out here, you'll all freeze. Come in, come in." The older female Trepe ushered them in like a mother hen would to her chicks. "You too, Squall." She called to him, with a smile.

He hesitated a moment before following them, 'accidentally' shutting the door on the limo driver.

The first thing that caught his line of vision was her father, who was hell bent on staring him down. He shifted for a moment before her mother pulled him into living room and told him to sternly sit down before letting in the poor limo driver who was pounding on the door.

"Poor boy." She cooed at him. "Sit down, I'll get you some tea." The limo driver thanked her quietly before sitting down next to Squall who immediately glared at him. Apparently sympathy for over worked and under paid limo drivers ran in the family.

…Damn.

"Sir." The limo driver greeted him with a smile.

The closest Squall got to smile back was perhaps his lip twitching in annoyance. Little son of a-

"Oh Allen. I'm so sorry, I thought someone let you in." Quistis said, walking in with a tea tray; which was Squall's cue to at least try to pull an innocent act. The blonde shot a glare his way. Or not.

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure the door just shut by accident." Squall held back a snort of laughter. "Here, let me get that for you." He watched as the driver got up and took the tray from the blonde and set it down on the table. "Would you like some tea, Mr. Leonheart?"

He vaguely felt his eye twitch. Not as much as I'd like you driving back to Esthar right about now. He shook his head. Make a decent image of yourself. "No thanks."

"Quistis?"

"Yes please." She said quietly, getting up to get the milk and sugar.

Okay. Now to fire-

"Allen, I just heard that there's going to be blizzard. Will you be alright driving home?" Mrs. Trepe walked in and sat down beside him, and Squall was extremely close to screaming in frustration. Was everyone in the house on first name basis with the guy!

"I'm sure I'll be fine, thank you."

"No, no. Don't say that dear. Why don't you stay the night just in case. I realize it's Christmas eve is tomorrow but better off safe than sorry, right?" The older blonde persuaded.

"Well…. If you won't mind…"

"Nonsense! You can sleep on the couch, if that's alright with you." Squall withheld a groan.

"It's fine, ma'am. I appreciate it very much." He said politely, bowing.

"Awesome!" Zell grinned, pumping his fist up in the air - only narrowly missing a tea cup.

It was going to be a long night.

o o o

"You shut the door on him purposely." Quistis said flatly.

Squall rolled his eyes on the other side of the bathroom door, before bumping his elbow on the sink while trying to put his night shirt on. "It was an accident."

"Like I'm going to believe that." He winced. She didn't sound very pleasant. Maybe he'd just camp out in the bathroom, he'd have better luck in there than in the bedroom.

"It was. I accidentally shut it when I was holding the door open for your mother." He heard her sigh from the other side of the door. He finished buttoning up the shirt before opening the door and looking at her. She shook her head at him, with an exasperated sigh.

"You're impossible."

Most women like that, his mind retorted sarcastically. He watched her throw back the covers and adjust the pillows before crawling into bed. The brunette stretched before going to flick the lights off, watching her absent mindedly play with the tinsel strewn across the dresser.

He blindly found his way back to the bed without killing himself and slid under the covers.

Silence.

"She would have liked it here." He said quietly, not really thinking about what he had said.

"Who?"

He hesitated a moment for answering. "My mom."

The sounds of rustling sheets only made him assume she was turning to face him. "Why?"

"It's quiet, and peaceful; and there's a lot of holiday spirit. She loved this season."

"I'm sorry you never got to say goodbye." She said quietly after a moment.

"Me too." He admitted slowly.

And even in the darkest room in the entire house, where it was pitch black, her hand still managed to find his.

o o o

"Merry Chriiiisstmaaasss!" Zell shouted loudly, swinging the door open.

"'Tis the season." The limo driver said with a small smile.

Squall managed to nod, keeping a tight hold on his coffee as if would somehow fly away on him.

"Good morning everyone!" Mrs. Trepe chirped. "Did everyone sleep well?"

Everyone nodded, and it took the brunette a minute for it to finally register and he nodded as well.

"Where's sleeping beauty?" The limo driver asked, pouring milk into his coffee.

Silence.

Both Squall and her father seemed to get the same corresponding idea and glared at the man. Mrs. Trepe laughed lightly. "How sweet. She should be here soon."

As if on cue, the blonde somewhat stumbled in and sat down beside her mother. "Well, everyone's here. Go ahead, Zell."

He grinned. "Yeah!" He crouched down and began to distribute presents.

His father leaned back content with the situation and began to start on his morning coffee.

"Yo, Squall. You didn't get any presents for Quisty?" The blonde man asked, raising an eyebrow at the brunette.

"I'm going to give it to her in private." He answered coolly.

Her father choked on his coffee.

"Anyone know the Heimlich!" Zell asked for the commotion.

"You don't need the Heimlich if he just swallowed coffee!" Mrs. Trepe exclaimed, frantically.

"Put your arms up in the air?"

"Zell, don't act stupid! You're making him laugh! That's not going to help any!"

"He's dying!"

"For God's sake - he'd not dying!"

"Call an ambulance!"

"Gaahhh." Mr. Trepe finally sighed, trying to regain his breathing.

"Oh, honey - are you okay?" Mrs. Trepe asked worriedly.

"Yo, dad! How many fingers?"

Quistis chuckled at the scene before meeting her husband's eye half way across the room. He stood up silently, and motioned for her to follow him.

She took one look at the commotion before standing up and following him to the kitchen. He shifted his weight uncomfortably.

Oh, come on Leonheart. You face bashing reviews, crazed fan girls and you can't even give your wife a present? What kind of man are you! He silently held out the box to her and she looked up at him a moment before taking it and opening it.

A smile crept across her face. "Thank you. …It's beautiful." _Buuut…._ His mind nagged. "But I can't accept this."

He nearly did a double take.

"We're getting divorced soon." She shook her head almost sadly. "You shouldn't spent this much money on me when we're probably not going to see each other again. You should save it for someone you'll actually stay with." She slowly handed it back to him. "I'm sorry, Squall."

His heart dropped somewhat, something he doubted he had ever felt before.

"What makes you think we'll never see each other again?"

She looked up somewhat surprised. "Well for starters, I live in Balamb and you live in-"

"No." He shook his head. "Not about where we live."

"I doubt you could ever take time out of your busy schedule to visit me, or if you would even think about if for starters."

"You shouldn't assume so much. We haven't even got the divorce papers yet."

She pursed her lips. "True."

"Look, just take it, okay? Even if we get the divorce …I want you to have it." Yes, because you have about the same romantic capacity as a turtle does, his mind nagged. Some Casanova you are, you're practically begging.

Slowly she took it and gave him a small smile. "Thank you." She said quietly.

And deep down, part of him wondered if it all really was only for the fame and not perhaps, something else.

You know you can't write when you make characters OOC and then make your OOC characters not even match the OOC ones you had before… if that made any sense at all. Alrighty, 11 pages. Not betaed - don't freak. The sky will not fall, I may be sentenced to punishment for horrible grammer and spelling, but the sky will not fall.

I'm very sorry about the wait for this fanfic, but I'm currently trying to figure out whether or not I'll be able to finish it. I love it dearly, but I'm not sure if I have the time, effort and imagination to continue this successfully. I've been re-reading it, and so far it just seems like all the same cliché ideas are being reused with out of character personalities. Please give me some time to decide whether or not I'll continue this.

- Jill


	14. Roses

The brunette sighed, tapping his fingers against the bar top. The last night he got with her alone in the one week stay with her parents and he was stuck at some crappy club. Probably the only club in the entire bloody area. And she was off in the bathroom and he was trying not to get noticed. Yes. This evening was definitely the definition of fun.

Did he mention the limo driver tagged along? That guy was seriously asking to get fired. His eye twitched. Twit. And the last time he had checked the so called twit was off romancing the ladies. He still wasn't sure how the skinny twerp managed to get all the ladies. The author stretched out his legs, cautiously checking around for crazy fan girls. None yet. He sighed again, craning his neck over the crowd. Honestly, where was she?

Why over by the flirting limo driver, of course his mind sang. Over by the- His mind came to abrupt halt, and he checked over the area again. Lo and behold. There she was.

Over by the flirting limo driver.

Honestly, he couldn't win could he? He got off the stool and calmly walked over. He went to her parents, forced himself though three nights of torture with the lanky limo twit and now this? Argh. No way in hell this little twerp was getting her. Was she too oblivious to notice that the twit obviously liked her, or did she know and was just doing this to get back at him?

"Mr. Leonheart, how are you?" Allen asked, looking up from his glass. Stupidlittlepunk. Probably ambushed her on the way back from the bathroom. Or you hope, his mind nagged; because having to face the fact that some twit can probably sleep with your wife faster than you can will crush your ego to little bits.

"Fine."

The limo driver shifted uncomfortably before getting up. The situation was getting a bit awkward being in between an evidently pissed off boss and his oblivious wife. "I've got a call." He somewhat muttered out before digging his cell phone out of this pocket, and looked for the nearest bathroom.

The brunette barely stifled any rude comments that were close to coming out. He had to go about this smoothly, no stupid insults that would get him further into the negative range; not that he was sure he would ever be out of the negative range ever, but… Think of something romantic, Casanova.

"Having a good time?"

Reaaal romantic there, there self. I think I just saw cupid himself fly into a wall because that was probably the worst wasted pick up line in history he ever heard. Does she _look _like she's having a good time? Well, it was her idea. Honestly who asks- Stop arguing with yourself, dammit.

The blonde looked around the room for a moment before answering. "I suppose." She said quietly. He raised an eyebrow at her. Real convincing.

"Want to go outside?" She gave him a somewhat suspicious look as if he was going to get her out there and pull some horrendous prank on her. He gave a somewhat exasperated sigh. How was he ever going to get her to even like him if she wouldn't even go outside with him? "No reporters, I promise."

The last part seemed to concrete the deal, and she gave him a nod, taking her coat from the chair and standing up. He shrugged on his coat and stretched before heading for the nearest exit. The parking lot was deserted much to his delight.

"It went by fast." She said quietly, buttoning up her coat.

"…Yeah." The brunette replied, with a small frown. Come on, Leonheart; buck up. You're getting all wilty over some woman. Money's still your priority here. Now be a man, step in and go woo her. "So you'll go back then, after all this."

"Yeah." He vaguely noted she was wearing the necklace he bought her. "I will."

You're doing a wonderful job of wooing her, self. He sighed, stuffing his hands into his pockets, it was nippy out. "Do you have anyone back there?"

"What?" Which translated to: explain, since you have absolutely no hope of getting a degree in dignified talking around your own wife.

"A boyfriend." He said somewhat stupidly. "In Balamb." Niiice. You two have been married for what, almost one and a half months and _now_ you ask if she has as boyfriend?

"No." She pulled her coat tighter around herself.

"Oh." He muttered, quietly. Real smooth. He removed his hands from coat pockets, and sighed. "You want to go?"

"Where?" The blonde asked slightly confused, looking up at him.

"Pick somewhere."

She raised an eyebrow at him, a small smile playing across her lips. "Anywhere?"

It wasn't until later he decided he didn't like that tone of her voice.

o o o

It was logical in his mind, that of course, just to annoy him; she would pick the middle of no where in the … middle of no where to sit and talk. While it was still snowing. And freezing.

"Here?" He asked dryly, giving her a flat look. She nodded, content with the situation. Probably because she hadn't yet realized he had 'conveniently' left the limo driver back at the club.

The blonde smiled crouching down to look at something, and he had to wonder how the hell some people could be so content in ice cold freezing weather. He set his face straight, and looked around on what would have been a beach, had it been summer.

He watched as she got up and walked toward with a somewhat determined look on her face, and took his arm. "Come look at this."

The brunette found himself looking at some sort of plant while she brushed the snow off of it. He somewhat frowned. He drove all the way here just to look at some stupid frozen plant? Figured. Only it wasn't frozen, it was still quite alive. "It's a winter rose."

He still didn't see what all the fuss was. "It only blooms once a year during the winter." Hence the name, her mind sniped sarcastically. She looked at him with a small smile. "They say if you make a wish in front of it, it will come true."

He would have rolled his eyes if she wasn't staring at him, he felt like saying 'annnnnnd?'. A wish. Big deal. What could he possibly ask for? Other than her falling madly in love with him and somehow beginning to act smart around the press? He doubted some little plant could make that come true.

"Well?"

"Well what?" He asked, staring at her flatly.

"Did you make a wish?" He somewhat frowned at her attitude. She sounded more like Rinoa than she did herself.

"Yeah." He lied, running his fingers through his hair. "You?"

She smiled. "Yes."

Can we go back now? His mind nagged immaturely. I'm freezing. He sighed, closing his eyes trying to warm himself up. He suppressed a shiver before opening his eyes - only she wasn't there.

Oh. Great. You've gone and lost you're wife. Let's ponder the scenarios here for a moment, shall we? A) She got eaten by a polar bear - there aren't any polar bears around here you idiot- B) Somehow fell through the ice and is probably dying of hypothermia or C) Limo driver stalked us here, captured her and is now currently seducing her in the back of your own limo.

Ew. Gross. He hide a grimace at the last one. He'd rather have her eaten by a polar bear than that. He pushed the scenarios to the back of her mind and looked around for her. Seriously, women or anyone for that matter, should not be able to disappear like that. He rubbed his arms and turned around for a moment trying to sort out his thoughts, only being able to come up with one consistent thought.

Dear God, you've screwed yourself over this time. You've gone and lost your wife.

Smoooooooooooth.

Now trying to look around and frantically trying to calm your brain down at the same time was not easy to do. Especially while avoiding snow balls.

…..

Waaaait-

His mind came to an abrupt halt and he had the unfortunate fate to be pelted with one in the face. He wiped the snow his face and glared at her, possibly the most harsh glare he had even given. First scaring him by disappearing and now harassing him with snow balls! The nerve.

And she wasn't at all phased by it. Damn. Instead, she let out a small laugh. And oddly, he found that more satisfactory than any thing else she could have done. But that wasn't going to let her off the hook.

Keeping his eyes locked with hers, he bent down to the ground, and gathered snow with one hand while continuing to give her a harsh look. And just when he had thought he had caught her off guard, he flung it at her. Only to have her duck.

There's a reason you're a writer and not in the Olympics for javelin throwing, his mind reminded him curtly. He was rewarded with another snowball to the chest and he gave her a rather sour look before trying in vain to fling another one at her, this one actually catching her in the leg.

She gave him a surprised look, as if she hadn't expected him to hit her in a million years. Which she hadn't. He got up quickly when he saw her disappear behind a tree. So she was playing hard to get. In more ways with one. Fine. He'd get her. No one humiliated Squall Leonheart and got away with it.

He slowly stepped over to the tree and crouched. He felt oddly like a cat waiting for the mouse to skidder out a hole. She traced her hands along the tree bark, backing up along the trunk, trying to vain to spot him.

He held back a grin. This was perfect. He got up prepared to fully surprise her. And would have too, if the damn twig underneath his foot hadn't cracked under the pressure. Crap. She whipped around at the noise, and came face to face with an equally as horrified Squall. And to make the situation ever more perfect - he tripped on his own feet.

Tres bon, Squall. His mind snapped, while he landed on the ground, her right on top of him. He grunted. She looked a hell of a lot lighter than she looked, that was for sure. "Are you alright?" She asked, peering over him.

Fine as you can be with your heaver-than-she-looks-wife on top of you straddling you with raging hormones. "Yeah." He said instead. "You okay?"

"Fine." Obviously. She landed on top. He sat up with a wince, as she looked at him somewhat concerned.

"I think you pulled your back." She said, eyeing him up and down. "Here." She lightly pushed him back to the ground. "Does it hurt?"

As if he'd admit it. He shook his head. She frowned and looked at him, evidently not amused at his lying. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

She laid fully ontop of him. "Ow!" The words escaped his mouth on their own accord.

She gave him a flat look. "You should have told me before."

He gave her a half-assed attempt at a glare before giving up. "Fine." He felt relief as she got up, and he slowly sat up ignoring her lecture about sitting up. She stared him for a moment, not quite sure what she was feeling. Concern, annoyance, or perhaps something else…?

He watched her for a moment, pleasantly surprised to see her sit there for a moment trying to force down a look of concern. He removed his hands from the snow and sat up fully, trying not to let the discomfort show. Slowly he brought his fingers to her hair and brushed the snow off of it before leaning in and gently kissing her. Slowly she pulled away after a moment, shifting her weight.

He groaned, and she let out a small laugh despite his evident pain. "Come on. Let's get you home." He gave her a flat look, and she sighed. "I'll drive."

o o o

"Is he alright?" Her mother asked from outside the door. "There's more Advil out here if he wants some."

"He's fine, mom. Anymore Advil and he'll be on a drug high." She called back, before glaring at him. The fact that the poor limo driver had to take a cab home had not gone unnoticed by her. She rolled her eyes and looked at him.

"Strip." She told him, crossing her arms.

He made a noise she had never before heard in her life. "What!" If she wanted him that badly, all she had to do was ask…

She sighed. "I can't look at your back if you have your shirt on."

The brunette gave her a flat look before turning around and attempting to take off his shirt. When did she become a medical expert all of the sudden? Ow. Bad idea. He decided firmly when it had hurt when he had tried to get the stupid cloth off.

Footsteps told him she was coming before she had settled down in front of him.

Oh no- You are not going to undress him. Screw it if he hurt his back. He'll live. It'll hit for a bit for but for God's sake don't do anything hasty. Technically it's your fault he hurt his back. That still doesn't mean you need to undress him! The next thing you'll know you'll be- Argh. Shut up self.

She pursed her lips and she tugged at the bottom of his shirt and pulled it upwards before removing it completely. Don't. Look. At. Him. "Roll over."

Oh this would be wonderful sight for anyone to walk in on.

He mumbled something before rolling over, and she looked over at him, tracing her hands across his back. "Does it hurt here?"

"No." She put pressure near his shoulder blade.

"Here?" He shook his head, and she moved her hands lower on his back.

Okay, let's not get too gutsy here, self. "Here?" He shook his head again, and she sighed. "He-"

He cursed loudly, and she removed her hand. "I'll take that as a yes."

The brunette rolled over, and looked up at her flatly. She found herself staring at him, she cleared her throat. "I think you pulled it."

Duh.

She sighed looking at the clock before back at him. "You should get some sleep. Hopefully it will feel better in the morning."

He watched as she left, his gaze somewhat lingering on her. Remember what you're here for. It's the fame. He closed his eyes waiting for her to return. …Right? With some difficulty he rolled onto his stomach, and sighed into the pillow.

The sound of footsteps alerted him to the fact she has returned, and he vaguely felt her place a hand on his back. "Squall, don't lay on your stomach."

He groaned into the pillow. First she tells him to sleep and now she won't let him?

"Come on. Sleep on your side." If he could have glared at her, he would have. He sighed, rolling over onto his side. He closed his eyes and he felt her get into bed. Was she asleep yet? He held back a groan. He couldn't sleep on his side. Never did, never would.

Slowly, he turned to roll over. "Squall." She said sternly, he mumbled a curse word. She moved closer to him so he could feel her back against her front. Oh God. He rolled back to his side, a frown plastered on his face.

"Here." She said somewhat exasperatedly. Here what- His mind did a double take when she took his arms and wrapped them around her waist. "Now stay. The worst thing you can do for a back ache is lay on your stomach."

Move along people, no sexual tension here, his mind sang. He held his breath. This was … rather uncomfortable. He sighed, resting his head on her shoulder. Oh well.

At least her hair smelt nice.

He kicked himself for thinking that. Squall Leonheart - you are a loser. You are a loser that has begun to hold some compassion for your wife, and that … is not a good sign. He held back a sigh. You're going soft. Soon you'll start to think of her as your actual wife and you'll fall in love. We can't have that now can we…? If you do that, the next thing you'll know you'll start rescuing baby kittens and saving baby ducklings from evil crocodiles.

He relaxed his body, feeling sleep fall upon him. At least she was comfy.

o o o

"Good morniiiiiing!" Mrs. Trepe sang, opening the curtains.

Squall groaned burying his head into his wife's neck. This wasn't fair. He didn't get any sleep and now _this_? "Rise and shine, dearies."

"Mom…" Quistis somewhat whined, looking up and rubbing her eyes before the actual realization that Squall Leonheart was pretty much spooning with her hit her. She froze and forced down the dread.

"Alright, alright. Just a few more minutes, I know, I know. You've been saying that since you were five." The woman chided, leaving and shutting the door behind her.

The blonde sighed, shifting from her side to come face to face with her husband. She blinked stupidly for a moment before finally remembering what had happened last night. "Oh."

Oh was right, his mind said dryly. "How's your back?" She asked softly.

"Better." He murmured quietly, stretching.

A small smile came across her lips. "That's good." She said quietly, her eye lids drooping slightly.

Leaning over he placed a kiss on her forehead that left them both speechless for a moment. "Thanks." He said quietly.

You idiot! You just thanked her… Why did you thank her! Quick, take it back. Think of an insult. Any insult, anything to get yourself off this… weird amount of kindness you've been feeling lately.

He studied her for a moment. Maybe he was half asleep. Maybe he was still on the Advil high, but somehow he got to the conclusion that for a moment there, she actually looked somewhat attractive.

That's not an insult! His mind screeched hysterically.

She said nothing but slowly looked up at him as if waiting to see someone else.

He watched her silently as she slowly reached up and moved herself closer to him. The brunette sat there, stunned as she slowly lowered her lips to his, hesitating a moment before actually going through with the action.

Oh, you've done it now! Her mind warned, running around in circles. Kiss a man and they think you're madly in love with them!

He found himself kissing her back, running his finger along her back. What are you doing? His mind hissed. Her parents are in the other room and you're being a hormonal idiot! He slowly pulled away, drawing her against his chest, the feel of her lulling him back to sleep.

You've done it now, Squall. You've gotten attached. You stupid, stupid man.

I think I've given up on any hopes of this story being anywhere remotely close to being IC. Oh well. This story is actually going to be a long one, I'm actually thinking around 25+ or more chapters. So sit tight, buckle your seat belt and get ready for the one of most OOC Quall fics in history.

I think after this story and perhaps one more; I'm going to quite writing. Don't think I have it in me anymore… if I had it to start out with XD So next chapter, I'll give you guys a few ideas for the next story if I ever finish this one.


	15. Papers

"Have you gotten the divorce forms yet?"

The room went silent. And awkward. And there was enough sexual tension to kill an adult male elephant. Not that that mattered, but you know.

Squall could have banged his head against a wall until he had a concussion if it would have gotten him out of this situation. It was him. Quistis. In his bedroom. And it definitely wasn't going the way he wanted to. At all. What so ever.

He had four options at the time. Throw himself out the window, point at something random and slip something into a drink that wasn't conveniently there, lie or tell the truth.

Confused? Maybe we should start at the start. Or maybe just yesterday. Whatever.

o o o

"I love you."

And for a moment there, time stood still; and nothing else seemed to matter; and yet it still rendered him speechless.

She looked away, hurt. "Won't you say something?"

He found himself speechless, grasping for invisible words. "I never expected... this." He whispered. "I.. I always thought..."

"Don't say it. I don't want to hear it." She said quietly. "I should have known you wouldn't feel the same." With that she pulled her hands away from his, and turned away from him.

And in that moment of desperation, he pulled her back and placed his mouth over hers in kiss neither had been expecting before pulling away after a moment. "You were always so much more than a friend, Eris... I still want to protect you. I want to save you. Let me.. save you."

Her eyes softened. "Nowe..."

Squall's hand stopped in mid air over the keyboard.

Dammit. Writer's block. He sighed before saving and shutting the laptop off. Writer's block aside, he had bigger problems. Much bigger. Like, dude, _huge_. And that big problem consisted of two words.

Divorce papers. He could honestly swear he had never hated any two words more than those. Okay. Well maybe he did. But that wasn't the point. The point was he had spent the last two days avoiding her and the forty nine days were up.

And he was royally screwed.

And he had exactly 24 hours to dig himself his own grave, get a mad scientist to make her fall in love with him or think of some damn good excuse; because if he couldn't come up with anything she'd be a walking.

Not that this was a bad thing, because in all honesty, she did have a nice-

He shook his head, and put a hand to his forehead. He was spending too much time with Irvine.

After the limo drive home, he was literally confined himself to his room. After all - he had a major dilemma on his hands. And it wasn't fan girl e-mails. Although that was an issue too. He sighed. Money. Affection. Money. A woman with an actual personality. Number one spot in popularity.

So basically, it boiled down to if he lied or told the truth - what was he doing it for? The money or for her?

Urgh. Decisions, decisions. He sighed. He needed a drink. He got up but stopped himself. Drinking wasn't the best idea at the time. Instead, he sat back down and put his face in his hands.

Alright, his mind decided. Let's go over the situation quickly here.

Guys meets girl. Actually, he accidentally gets married to her and sleeps with but that's not the point. Girl hates guy. Guy hates girl. Guy loves money. Guy's an asshole. Girl has fun cub.

Which is totally unrelated.

Guy's maid is in love with him. Guys likes girl-

His mind stopped dead in it's track.

Crap.

Attached was one thing. Liking her was another. Next thing he'd know he'd actually be in love with her. He let out a weak chuckle at that idea. Hah. As if.

Or maybe -

Shut up, self. Just shut up.

o o o

o o o

"Why so sad?" Rinoa asked, searching for the safety pin she could have sworn she had put down a minute ago.

Selphie looked up from the stack of thread and needles. "Cheer up! Relax!"

The blonde sighed, fiddling with the beads in front of her. "The divorce papers come tomorrow." She said quietly.

The other two women stopped dead in their tracks. "W-what?" Rinoa sputtered, the safety pin long lost from her mind. "Already?"

Selphie simply gaped.

She nodded. The raven haired girl walked over and sat next to the blonde. "Are you going to sign them?"

The blonde sighed again. "I think so."

"What!" Selphie piped up suddenly energetic. "You can't!"

Quistis shook her head. "I've been thinking about it a lot, and I don't think it would work out anyways. I don't belong here. Besides, my job-"

"How do you know it wouldn't work out?" Rinoa butt in. "He really likes you, and it's obvious you like him."

Oh, she knew. But as much as she knew, she also knew she had family and a career back there. And as much as she wanted him to say he didn't have them, she knew it would be easier for them if he got them. She wouldn't get too attached and she could just go home and forget about it all.

"It's not that simple-" It really wasn't. She couldn't spend her entire life there, even if she did have feelings for him. She couldn't be sure if it would be worth it in the end. If it would weigh out evenly.

"Sure it is!" Selphie said, pumping her fist up in the air.

The blonde shook her head again before getting up. "I can't stay. I'm sorry."

o o o

It was three am in the morning, and while most people were asleep with their loved ones; he was plotting. And trying to avoid certain blondes. And limo drivers. Not that the limo driver was any where in the radius. But come on. You can never be too careful.

That's why he was in a garden with absolutely no security. One that was his little private place to write and think and all the things that most men never do.

Magazines were piled next to him, and his laptop was set on the ground. Popularity was going up. Idiotic nature was going down. A bit. And he was at a loss.

Was he keeping her because of the ratings, or because he knew she's leave if he gave her the papers.

He still hadn't figured it out.

Ohhh, drama - we know. Because none of us ever saw this coming. After all, c'mon what story has some kind of climatic love scene that every one knew was coming from chapter one?

Duh. This one.

He was weighing options in his mind. Money lasts forever. Unless he got robbed, died, got mugged, died or hey, got robbed. Love. Eh. Love lasted until you got sick of the person or until somewhere better came along. Which according to the news, is quite often.

He was starting to think money was the better option. No hurt, free sex, money. Everything rolled into one nice package. Just kick her out when the going got rough and he'd be bachelor again.

Only not all of him quite agreed with idea. There was this nagging little thing that didn't agree. What was called? Annoyance? Pest? Oh. That's right. A conscience. That was it. Damn thing. Totally unnecessary.

He was starting to get soft. Next thing you'd know he'd be adopting puppies and kittens and saving little old grannies from the wild car chases.

Urgh. _Puppies_.

He flipped through the magazine quickly before putting it down. Honestly, everyone knew the card Queen was totally going out with that Martin guy -

He froze when he heard the sounds of a twig snapping. Dammit.

And if you're thinking this is the cliche romantic scene were the two lovers meet in the garden -

You were wrong.

He sighed in annoyance when Angelo appeared. The dog managed to get out at the most annoying times. The dog turned his head at him, wagging his tail like there was no tomorrow, trying to signal something.

And there was no way in Hell he was about to go ask 'What is it, Lassie?'

He ignored the dog and instead took out his cell phone and checked for text messages. None. He sighed and put it away, just thankful for the fact the obsessive fan girls hadn't gotten his number. Although he was counting down the days until someone would figure it out and sell it on eBay for three billion dollars.

He still hadn't figured out his answer to the problem and he wasn't getting any further on it.

And the stupid dog wasn't helping.

"Angelo! Where are you?"

Damn. Where's a kidnapper when you need one? He shot a glare at the dog. It was wagging its tail happily. And he had the notion it had been planning it all along.

You know, if dogs can plot. Or something like that.

"Go, go." He hissed quietly, trying to shoo it off. The dog didn't budge. "Go see Rinoa." He tried again to no avail.

If he had the humour to roll his eyes, he would have. The dog was evil, he decided firmly. Pure evil.

Fine. If the dog wouldn't make a run for it, he would. He left the laptop and the magazines and started out in jog down the path, to the stepping stones across the pond. He moved quickly, keeping his eyes downward on the pond stones to make sure he didn't do a face plant and massacre a few dozen goldfish. Not that he was a goldfish saver, but they were _expensive_.

And if he hadn't been so preoccupied calculating the net worth of his goldfish if he sold all of them in his head and hopping stones, he might have seen that there was someone coming his way.

Or he maybe he wouldn't have. Who knows.

Anyways, he ran head first into none other than - Selphie?

What was this - women's night in the garden just to harass him! How did they even get in? It suddenly clicked that he had left the gate open. Urgh. Still - at all the places to be why near him! It just wasn't his night. Or day. Whatever. Maybe they had some sort of tracking device on him. 

"Owwie!" She exclaimed, rubbing her head. "Shessh."

"What are you doing in here?" Squall managed to grit out, not even attempting to muster an apology.

"I came to get Angelo!" She huffed, puffing out her chest and putting her hands on her hip as if she was trying to imitate a rooster or something. He sat there a moment waiting for her to cluck but then thought better of it and got up. "What are you doing here?" She asked before suddenly snapping up. "Did you come to see the full moon!"

He raised an eyebrow at her, while trying to plan out an escape route. "That was yesterday."

"Oh." She muttered, dejected. "Oh well! I gotta go find Angelo now! Booyaka!"

He watched as she all but skipped off. That was definitely randomer than usual. Something was going on here. He could sense it.

It was the Squally-sense.

He sighed, getting up and dusting himself off before heading to the exit slower this time. With Selphie there that meant that Rinoa would be occupied and hopefully he would be women and dog free. And hopefully, hopefully have some alone time.

To think. Or something. Or figure out whatever they were plotting. Or not.

He ran his fingers through his hair before continuing forwards. This sucked. Big time. But at least now he was somewhat free. After all, how bad could his luck be?

As he neared the corner, he decided it was pretty bad considering the fact he had no more escape routes unless he pulled a Clark Kent and couldn't hold his breath for a good ten minutes under water much less in a small fish pond and with a certain blonde coming way, he was fairly sure he was the unluckiest man on Earth.

The limo driver stuck in a blizzard with no heating and a hot pink car blaring Britney Spears music next to him disagreed. But it didn't count because no one loves the limo driver.

Anyways, back the story.

He felt like running head first into a wall in hopes it might knock him unconscious rather than have this conversation. He looked around hoping there might be some alien ship eager to abduct him. No such luck. And unless her personality did a 180 or a cliff notes on how women think appeared he was screwed. Seriously.

"Squall."

Dammit. He didn't have an excuse now. Not unless he dropped dead at her feet. Which was unlikely. He really didn't want to get into his conversation now. It would confuse him and God only knew he was already confused as it is. Besides, a situation like this might invoke... _feelings_.

He needed notes on his hand or something. Or something brilliant to say, but he was running out of options. "Hey."

Brilliant, moron. This just screams awkward. Why don't you just ask her if the night before was awkward for her too?

She sighed. "I think we need to talk."

And unless talking some how translated to things that shouldn't be included in PG-13 fics, he hated the 'we need to talk' line.

"Yeah."

Wow. You're just a little dictionary of words today, aren't you?

Shut up.

His brain scrambled to figure out all what had occurred with her. Slept with her. Got married to her. Got yelled at, slapped and elbowed by her. Kissed her. Meet her parents. Nearly had a heart attack when meeting her brother. Got married again. Just about got jumped by her. Kissed her again. Quite the romance here, hm?

He sighed again. "Let's get out of here first."

o o o

"Tomorrow the fifty days are up." She said quietly. Not that she had been counting.

The only this that could have made the situation more awkward at this point would have been both their fathers streaking by. And a legion of rabid fan girls chasing after them.

"Yeah." C'mon. Just tell her you might actually like her. It's not fifth grade anymore, you moron. You don't have to worry about kids teasing you - you're a full grown adult now.

And that might be the problem.

She sighed. "So where do we go from here?"

Assuming I give you the papers? You go home. Duh. "I don't know." He said lamely.

Nice answer there. The wall could have come up with something more romantic than that.

"We can pretend it never happened."

Ouch. He mentally winced at the comment.

"I think I might miss you, though." He whipped his head up at the statement, almost the to extend where he was sure he was going to give himself whiplash.

Not obvious at all, looser. Drool while you're at it.

"But it's not like we could have stayed married." She admitted quietly.

And that would be the sound of your manliness factor just dropping to negative forty.

SAY SOMETHING. NOW.

"You'll leave then?"

Nice going.

She stayed quiet for a moment before nodding. For a moment he could have swore he had experienced something pertaining to emotion. But maybe not. His brain was struggling to keep up with the conversation at hand but only able to come up with the fact that she couldn't leave.

Whether it was for the popularity or for her actually he still wasn't sure. He decided he should probably figure that out soon.

But on the other hand it was probably time to try and convince her not to leave for the time being. Or at least say something smart.

And for God's sake, self - don't say oh. Anything but -

"Oh."

You _moron_. He quickly recovered himself. Say something smart. She's going to _leave_. And she won't be coming back. She's going to go back, get married to some other guy and forget you. DO SOMETHING. NOW.

She beat it to him. "Never mind. I'll see you in the morning. ...You can tell me if you got them then." He watched as she got up, and suddenly it hit him. It was like huge neon sign was put up in front of him saying : YOU LIKE HER YOU IDIOT. YOU REALLY LIKE HER.

It wasn't about the money anymore. It wasn't about the popularity. It wasn't even about walking down the red carpet and not being stuck with some stupid ditz.

And he wasn't in love. But he did have a headache and some stupid feeling like he was supposed to be going after her in some typically romantic scene.

His sensitive side was frantically tying to convince him to go after her. The urgings mainly consisted of the fact this was probably the first women he had gone out with that actually knew the basic time tables and wasn't some air headed ditz that was only popular because of her body.

His brain on the other hand, was dead. So evidently, it was a one sided battle.

And luckily, since neither his legs or brain were cooperating, she stopped herself at the doorway. And at that exact moment, he swore for the rest of years he would go to church every Sunday.

The sensitive side was cheering him on. This was his chance! ...And he sat there watching her have an inner debate with herself instead of actually doing something productive like thinking up some romantic lines.

It seemed like they were both thinking the same thing. Could she do it? Could she really walk away and never see him again? And could he really let her go?

He was panicking. He was honestly panicking. All the agents in the world could not help him now. He was on his own, no one what telling him what to say. And in short, he was screwed.

"Wait." He called just before mentally kicking himself. Smooth.

She turned around, confused.

Okay, talk now. "I - don't-" His mind was screeching at him. Talk man, talk! You've got verbal skills - use them!

"What?" She asked, confused.

For God's sake, you do public speaking, you go to press conferences and you can't speak to one woman all of a sudden! She's going to leave. She's leaving. She's going for the door. She's turning the knob.

We don't need a play by play! His mind screeched.

DO SOMETHING! His brain snapped.

And his body, deciding both other counterparts were complete and total idiots took the easiest option available, and pushed her against the door and kissed her.

Not one of the brighter ideas in the Squally things to do and not to do history, but hey. It shut them both up. And if his cell phone hadn't started to ring in his pocket he probably would have gladly died a happy man with no air for a good five minutes.

He pulled away slowly and looked at her. Great. By the look on her face he just put the confusion points in her brain to an all time high. Okay, now he really had to say something.

"I didn't get the forms." He said quietly.

He watched as a flicker of something he couldn't quite identify flashed across her features. "H-how much longer until you get them?"

"I don't know."

She looked down. "I see." She swallowed and turned away slowly opening the door. "Goodnight then."

And for a moment he wanted to tell her he had gotten them, just for the fact that it might have made her happy. "Quistis-" She turned around for a moment and he faltered. As much as he wanted to tell her, he found himself not being able to. She stared for a moment. "Never mind." He said quietly.

She nodded and walked down the hall slowly, not looking back and he leaned against the door frame. He couldn't do it. He just found himself not being able to let her go.

Yes. He lied. If you remember, he got the divorce forms in chapter 5 I believe. PLOT TWIST. I know, and FYI - I have absolutely no clue what I'm doing. This story's plotline has officially gone AWOL. It's one AM in the morning. And I have a feeling I'm going to regret this chapter. Anyone who can guess the name in Squall's little writer's block story gets a cookie. Happy hunting.


	16. Meetings

Whoever had opened the window in the night was going to get it. That was the first thought that crossed his mind when he woke up. That and it was bloody freezing. He rubbed his eyes before looking at his watch.

6:34am.

He groaned. No way. Too early. Damn meetings, cutting into his sleeping time. He sighed and rolled over only come to face to face with his sleeping wife.

Oh shit.

o o o

"You're telling me the furnace broke in the night?" It was seven in the morning, and he wasn't in a good mood. At all. Whatsoever.

"Vell, you zee good sir-" The man shrunk under his gaze.

He shook his head. "What _are _you saying?"

"Vell, you ZEE you VONDERFULLY good ZIR-"

"That wasn't what you said the first time-" Squall pointed out, squinting at the man's name tag. "Odine."

"Vell, I van't remember it vall. I'm vetting very zold, you zee. Anyzays, you zee, the furnace it iz broken very badly. It zeeds fixing."

The brunette rolled his eyes. He could have told him that. "How long will to take to fix?"

"Let's zeee... about zhree days."

"What?"

"Zix days."

"Wait, that's not what you said-"

o o o

She was awake by the time he got back. He sarcastically thanked his lucky stars for that little miracle.

"Was there a reason you were in my bed when I woke up this morning?" He asked, going through his closet.

"It was freezing." The blonde responded, debating whether to pull the covers over her head or not in an effort to end the conversation.

"I see." He mused, taking off his undershirt and putting a black one on. "Are you going to stay in bed all day?"

She huffed and muttered something he didn't quite hear.

"What?" He turned around only to catch her staring at him.

Now would be a good time to bolt considering the fact you probably can't go and say that you're staring at the wall since you're so red. The blonde cleared her throat.

"Nice shirt."

Insert awkward silence here.

His brain was going around like a hamster in a wheel looking for something half decent to say... In short, no where.

"I've got a meeting." He suddenly said, rather fast, and rather stupidly.

His mind came to abrupt halt.

Nice one. You finally get some sort of black mail-able evidence and you go and say 'Thanks.' Bloody brilliant. Walk into a wall while you're at it, self. It might look a bit brighter than what you just said.

She raised an eyebrow at his sudden silence.

We'll take this moment to emphasize the awkward silence and capitalize the word AWKWARD.

It seemed to be the word of the day.

"I don't think you get enough sleep." She finally said.

He opened his mouth to make a retort but then shut it.

Yeah. Sure. Whatever. Pick one. Just agree with her, his mind snapped.

"Yeah." He ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to tame it. It failed. "You still cold?"

She shook her head. "I'm fine now. It's just cold at night."

"…Yeah."

Silence.

Alright. This was going to get awkward. And it was going to get awkward fast. Real fast.

"Mr. Leonheart, your limo's here!"

He could have kissed Selphie in relief. But when he actually thought about he changed his mind.

Quite quickly.

Now take your smooth leave, Romeo. "Be back soon." He said quietly, heading for the door.

She nodded. "…Bye."

One man can only take so much humiliation.

Okay. So we didn't pull the 'parting is such sweet sorrow' or whatever the line is. Make a nice exit and we might have a chance to redeem our self; his mind coached. He rolled his eyes.

And very narrowly managed to avoid walking into the wall. He quickly checked to see if she noticed before clearing his throat and stepping about a few inches to the left and walking through the door.

The second he was gone, she grabbed the nearest pillow and was vehemently trying to squeeze it to death. "Nice shirt," She grumbled sourly. "Out of all the things to say..."

o o o

Any plans of getting to that God awful meeting early just crashed and burned when he saw the highway. Never mind highway, more like drive-off-the-guard-rail-way-get-somewhere-way. He groaned. He was going to be stuck here for awhile, and hey- who better to stick it through with the limo driver HE HATED.

Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. This was exactly how he wanted to spend his afternoon.

"So where's Quistis today? She isn't going to the meeting with you?" The limo driver (what's-his-name-limo-twerp) asked casually, leaning on the steering wheel.

Squall twitched. "She didn't need to come."

"Ah, okay. I see. You just wanted to give her a break, right? You didn't want to get her stuck in traffic and listen to all these boring guys drone on..."

He twitched again. "Why do you care?"

Allen shrugged. "She's a sweet girl. She deserves someone nice that will take care of her."

Their eyes met, and sparks flew. In a bad way. Not romantic. Not at all.

"And why do you care?" Squall asked again, coldly.

"Do you love her?" The limo driver shot back.

"Excuse me?"

"Do you love her?"

At this moment he was so desperate to get away from this conversation he was willing to jump off the guard rail and scream 'I'm king of the World' if it would have gotten him out of this predicament. This was going to get uncomfortable. Fast.

"Do _you_ love her?" Squall snapped.

"I asked you first! Do you?"

"No." The brunette admitted sternly.

The limo driver frowned, disappointed. "I thought for sure..."

"You thought wrong."

The limo driver smiled suddenly, as if he had just figured out what the meaning of life was. "You're in denial."

"Denial?" Squall asked dryly, evidently not amused.

"Yeah. You know when someone says they don't love someone but they really do-"

"I know what it means."

"Oh. But you know you really aren't arguing-"

"You never answered my question." Squall interrupted. "Do _you_ love her?"

The limo driver laughed. "Love her!" He spat it out like it was the stupidest thought known to man kind. Squall cleared his throat and fixed him a glare. The limo driver stopped laughing. "She's a nice girl, but my boyfriend would positively go ballistic-" 

Squall gaped. "Boyfriend?"

The other man laughed. "What? Quistis never told you?"

The brunette slumped back into his seat.

It was going to be a long drive.

o o o

"…And stocks will be going up 10 percent according to the report…"

He watched silently as the women pointed to the flow chart on the board, pointing out various drops and highs in the businesses. The brunette sighed, debating where the actually drink the coffee in front of him. It's didn't look all that appetizing considering the fact he knew the woman at the board had deliberately skipped the milk and sugar to spite him. She hadn't been too fond of him since he had turned her down last year. He sighed, debating about the coffee. Probably tasted like crap, but it'd keep him up. He frowned. No way in hell was he drinking that. He'd stick it out the hard way.

"…The drop here indicated that the popularity has gone down due to the papers that need to be signed…"

…Like the divorce papers someone conveniently didn't sign, or tell their wife about, his mind snipped. He crossed his legs again, running his fingers through his hair.

Do you love her? He felt like groaning. Stupid limo twerp. He rubbed his eyes in an effort to keep awake.

Why did you sign them? The question echoed in his mind, he frowned. Was it because it was his only chance to keep her around?

You're pathetic, Leonheart. Look what you've been reduced to. You've gone from the top of the chart business man to love sick hubby. What happened to man who was so hell bent on making her fall in love with him for the money?

He absentmindedly leaned back into the chair, closing his eyes. Sleep was so inviting.

Maybe that man was gone. Maybe he wanted her to love him… just for the simple reason of being loved. He held back a laugh. Damn, that was corny.

"MR. LEONHEART, ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION! SLEEP ON YOUR OWN TIME!" The woman screeched.

Whoops.

The brunette jolted slightly before, leaning forward. The woman held her hands on her hips and was glaring at him like there was no tomorrow, and the look in her eyes told his she wasn't sure whether to hit him or molester him.

He sighed. Women. They all wanted a piece of him. The woman growled at him, narrowing her eyes. "Do you have a good excuse for interrupting the meeting? I'm sure your peers aren't too happy with this."

_Technically_, she was the one who interrupted, but he wasn't about to go pointing that out.

"Well?" She asked, leaning down to his level. Later on in his life, he would have been willing to bet a hundred dollars she had done that to purposely show off how low her blouse went.

He cleared his throat, pointing to his ring finger. "My wife kept me up all night." He held back a smirk as the person beside him choked on their coffee.

The women just glared.

o o o

It was around two in the morning when he had gotten home after receiving the 'keeping-your-feelings-inside-doesn't-do-you-any-good' lecture from the limo twerp. Four hour limo drive and he was bloody exhausted. He sighed, kicking the door to his room open too lazy to even bother with the light switch even when he bumped into the dresser. Just because the kid had more of a love life than him and wasn't even famous didn't mean he could lecture him. He growled. Limo twerp and the not giving up woman (…what was her name again?) were just making his day worse. He groaned while kicking off his boots, when he saw the clock.

Made _yesterday_ worse.

The author sighed, taking off his shirt and pants off before laying down on the bed. He closed his eyes rolling over, only to come across the feeling of something that definitely wasn't his bed.

Oh shit.

Selphie blinked for a moment, and Squall looked back equally as dumb folded as if trying to think out a map of where he could put his hands and not get sued for sexual harassment. Then she screamed.

And he panicked. Then flailed. Then managed to somehow get himself on top in an effort to get off of her which at the time was a pretty stupid plan.

And if it wasn't already embarrassing enough half the security squads ran into the room. 

"What are you doing!" Rinoa screeched, covering her mouth.

"What? It's not my fault!" Squall yelled, still somewhat flailing.

"PERVERT!" Selphie yelled, pointing her finger at him.

"What were you doing in my room!"

"Your room! This MY room!"

"What are you talking about!"

"There are bunny slippers in here!" Selphie snapped. "…Unless you wear bunny slippers…." 

"You can't even tell! The damn light's off!"

"What's going on in here?" Quistis asked annoyed, flicking on the lights.

The security section shrugged, and Selphie pointed at the posture of Sir Laguna above her bed. "Unless that's yours - this is my room!"

Dammit.

A big rock would have been extremely convenient around now, Squall reflected. One nice and big enough he could have hid under until this all blew over.

The blonde sighed. "Would someone care to tell me what all the screaming was about?"

Selphie opened her mouth to talk but Squall cut her off. "Mix up." He muttered.

"Pervert." Selphie muttered back.

"It's okay, everything's fine now. Right, Selphie?" Rinoa chirped, guiding the rest of the people out of the room.

"Yeah." The girl grumbled reluctantly. "Fine."

"There, see? Everyone off to bed now!" The raven haired girl exclaimed, continuing to shoo people off until everyone was off but Squall and Quistis. The blonde stood in place, not quite believing the situation had been resolved but was too tired to pursue it.

"Go on! You two need your sleep!"

Squall just glared as Rinoa closed the door in his face after kicking them out.

"…So what happened?" Great. Now she's going to think you molester all the females in your house hold. Nice one.

The author sighed, walking up the stair case to his room. "I thought her room was mine."

The blonde held back a laugh. "Really?"

He shrugged. "The lights were off."

"No wonder she screamed. I'd scream if you were on me like too."

He tripped on the stair. Good image. No wait - bad one. Very, very bad one.

The brunette cleared his throat before getting up.  
"Are you alright?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Fine." He said curtly, managing to make the rest of the way up the stairs without tripping. He sighed, when reaching the top before casting a glance at her. "Still cold?"

Bing, bing. You win stupidest question of the year award. Why? Because the fact she's wearing four different VISABLE layers totally give the answer away. He felt like banging his head against the stairway rail.

Nice one self, nice.

She smiled, buttoning up on the outer one. "Yeah."

He continued keeping pace with her before stopping at his door. The blonde stood there with him, in an awkward silence, and he had a feeling saying 'Your room's that-a-way' wasn't going to mend the situation.

The brunette sighed. "…You want to come in?"

She nodded, stepping inside. "…I wanted to apologize for being so rude to you this whole time. The way I acted was extremely immature."

He blinked. If anyone should be apologizing it's him. He sighed, shaking his head. "It's fine."

"But-"

He stepped closer to her, bending down slightly to reach her height. "Don't..." He trailed off slowly.

She looked down a moment before slowly putting her hands on his neck, and kissing him.. If there was prize for the most idiotic look for the century, he would have just won it hands down. She pulled away quickly, with a small smile. "Apologize?"

"Yeah." He breathed.

You're a love sick moron. GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF.

She smiled again for a moment before turning away. "I should be going."

"You can stay." He said suddenly, she blinked in surprise. "If you want." He added after a moment. "This is the warmest room in house."

"…Alright. As long as you don't do to me what you did to Selphie." He knew that sharpness of her voice. She wasn't joking about that last part.

"Yeah." Of course. He would never think of doing that to her.

Caution; audience move away. The bolt of lightening will be here in mere seconds.

He sighed, double checking the room to make sure it was his this time before crawling into the bed, heeding the unspoken 'Stay on your OWN side of the bed' rule.

Half an hour later she was the one to break it, dead asleep cuddling up against him.

He groaned. She'd be the death of him, he sighed absentmindedly moving the bangs out of her eyes carefully.

He allowed himself a smile. It wouldn't be a bad way to go though. Not at all.

Ah. I'm so sorry for the long wait everyone! School takes up my priority time! Unfortunately, this will mostly likely be my last update until July until further notice since I'm off to England in July. However, being the kind soul I am I leave you with a little one shot to tide you all over :D I think this chapter is a bit too corny for my taste but oh well. Quistis had to get some action eventually.

PS: Nowe and Eris from the last chapter are two characters from Drakengard 2 whom I dearly ship. They might just make some more appearances in Squall's little novel. :D


	17. Visits

"Good morning!"

Squall gave Rinoa a flat look. It may have been a good morning for her, but it wasn't for him. "Whatever." He muttered, grabbing a grabbing a bagel from the table and taking a bite out of it in an effort to stop any further conversation.

The girl watched him with an amused look. "So we noticed Quistis wasn't in her room this morning."

Half the people in the kitchen dropped what they were doing and looked his way. And he was hoping for some sort of ninja to jump through the window and starting doing the robot or something so that the attention would be diverted off him. It never did. Damn those ninjas.

He was starting to resent the fact he had eaten the bagel in the first place. Not only was it incredibly dry, it also stopped him from making any good excuses for her taking up permanent residence in his room. Good ones, anyways. Not consisting of that, 'Well, she kind of just did and I just haven't kicked her out yet'.

Rinoa grinned at his silence. Oh yeah. She was just loving this. "Anyways, a letter came for you today."

He blinked. That was it? No torture Squall-kins? Nothing? There must be a trap hidden somewhere. The brunette glanced at the letter in her hand. Maybe there was pepper spray in there or some sort of discriminating black mail.

For God's sake, look at yourself. You're as paranoid as a kid trying to forge their parent's signature. He rolled his eyes, taking the letter and leaving. "Thanks."

She was asleep when he got to his room, he sighed noting the fact she had developed a sleeping in habit to rival his own. Throwing the rest of the God awful bagel out, he sat down and the opened the letter.

And groaned. A letter from his father. Could his day get any worse?

A couple hundred miles away, Allen shook his head at the limo which was currently smashed into a tree. "I told Mr. Leonheart to renew his insurance but nooo…"

Squall sighed, reading over the letter. Come here… blah, blah, meeting, business gala, Norg - HELLO. This just got interesting. He sighed, there were better ways of getting his attendance, but this would do. He got up and stretched a moment debating whether to wake her up or not, but decided not to having experienced her morning moods. He shuddered thinking about them, there had been a couple close calls there even when she wasn't in his room.

He got up silently, shutting the door slowly behind him only to come face to face with Rinoa.

He was willing to say that a good four years of his life had just been knocked off, he recovered quickly and fixed her with a dead panned look. No one snuck up on Squall Leonheart. No one. "Tell Laguna I accept." Not Dad, never Dad.

She nodded. "Okay, you'd better get ready then."

"…Why?"

"Didn't you know? It's tonight."

Dammit. Quistis was not going to be happy about this.

o o o

"Please remain calm and refrain from moving as the plane lands." He heard the captain say, as the whole plane lurched when it hit the run way. He looked at his wife who was still dead asleep on his shoulder after lecturing him for a good half of the flight. She's hadn't been too happy about it at all. As if dealing with her morning mood and PMS wasn't enough, now he had to deal with short notice bitch mode.

"Tee-hee-hee!" The stewardess giggled. "We're here! Up and at 'em sleepy bunnies! The plane has come to an abrupt stop! Come on, handsome stop sleeping!"

Squall ignored the woman and shook his wife who was still amazingly still asleep. "Wake up." He nudged her again, and she moaned, turning onto her side. "Wake up." He said again, poking her. Finally she woke up and glared at him sleepily.

She was getting surprisingly better with plane rides. Now she just slept through them.

He sighed, taking the luggage and hailing a taxi down.

A ten hour flight with his leg dead asleep and some hyper-active stewardess that was most likely on something that wasn't coffee wasn't making Squall particularly happy. The minus forty degrees weather in Trabia and knowing he was going to be stuck in some gala and business meeting thing for the next day wasn't helping either. He finally flagged down a taxi half an hour later before sitting back and relaxing. Two days and…. He sighed, shaking his head. He knew the business meeting and gala was just lure for getting him to actually get up and go to Esther. It was just like those 'buy on and get something ¼ the price' tags. The gala was the ¼ of the deal, the other part though-

"Sir, we're here." The blonde grumbled something he couldn't catch, although he assumed it was something about jetlag, time differences or an insult about organizing thrown in his direction. He sighed, sleeping beauty wasn't awake yet or in good terms it seemed. He paid the driver before grabbing his bags and ringing the door bell.

Let the fun begin. After all, how bad could it be?

Famous last words.

Laguna opened the door, lit up like a light bulb.

Quistis smiled, Laguna waved and Squall suppressed a groan.

"Son."

Moron whom I don't associate with.

"Laguna." He said, somewhat forced, deciding the previous statement wouldn't do him wonders.

"Quistis."

Great. We've established whom is whom. Congratulations. Your present and possibly future family will consist of complete and total morons.

Laguna held the door open all puffed up, probably thinking it would make him look like an eagle or something.

Squall thought he bore a striking resemblance to a turkey, but that was besides the point.

"Come in." Laguna said, grinning.

The brunette sighed, stepping in. It was gonna be one hell of a long weekend.

o o o 

Six hours later, he was stuck at the dinner table. Literally. Squeezed in at the corner of the table was poor Squall, getting his ear chatted of by some eager cook that had some how made it to the table.

"And then my poor little mum said right before she died, 'Susie, promise me you'll look after your brother, he's a good chap…' And I promised my poor dear, mummy… and since that day I kept old Jimmy in my sight until that fateful day when he… he… got attacked by a swarm of dolphins."

Riiiiiiiight.

Squall sighed as the woman blew into a tissue.

"It was awful! It took four days to recover all of 'em!"

Laguna patted the woman's shoulder, wiping his own eyes. "Poor guy." He said, shaking his head.

Kiros rolled his eyes at the other end of the table, shaking his head. Idiots. All of them. "Laguna… I believe dinner's been over for…" He checked his watch, "Two hours now."

And we all really want to go. Like, right this second.

The president nodded. "Uh, yeah. Go on."

Everyone hurried out quickly, Kiros being the first in line along with cook who walked surprisingly fast. Squall managed to squeeze out of the seat, and was ready to bolt when he tripped and did a face plant. Quistis cleared her throat and silently left the room, leaving Squall and Laguna along.

If there was an awkwardness award, they would have held it for the next century. Or two.

"Sooo, erm. How's life?" Laguna, asked leaning back in the chair.

"Fine."

"….So uh, you know what Sunday is?"

Squall sighed, "Yeah."

"Yeah."

Silence.

"….So, I'm thinking of a number between one and ten."

o o o   
"You tripped me." Squall announced, walking into the guest room.

She feigned an innocent look. "Maybe you tripped on a table leg. There were quite a few of them."

He gave her a deadpanned look and she sighed. "You two never talk, I was just giving you a window of opportunity."

Yeah. A window of opportunity consisting of guessing numbers, eye spy and other things that required a half an IQ point.

The brunette sighed, sitting down on the bed next to her. "Why do you care whether I talk to him or not?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

He shrugged. "Since you're only here until…" He trailed off slowly.

"Until the papers come?" She asked quietly. 

"Yeah."

Silence.

The blonde sighed. "I don't really care about them."

"The papers?" He asked stupidly, staring at her like she had grown another head.

"I care because I want to, and I'm here because I want to be here. I don't think the papers would change that."

He blinked. "So then you're saying that-"

"I care about you?"

He shook his head. "After that."

"I don't think the divorce papers would change that?" She asked, confused.

"Before that."

"I'm here because I want to be?"

"Yeah." He sighed. Okay, maybe this wasn't as confusing as it sounded. "You'd stay even if the papers came?"

You officially win stupidest man of the year award. Or most oblivious man in a romance award. Possibly both.

"Yes." Oh great. Now you've done it. You go and tell him you'd stay with him even when the papers are gone. You might as well go tell him you love him while you're at it, moron. Now would be your cue to start explaining yourself. Like, now.

"Well, I mean, if they came-" 

Squall watched as she started talking hysterically, and wasn't sure whether to slap her or laugh at her. After a moment he decided neither, as both wouldn't be scoring him any points. He put his finger to her lips. "Shh."

She blinked, as he moved in and kissed her.

Well, this had gone better than the scenario in her head had. A lot better. Except she had this nagging feeling she was forgetting something.

Urgh, what was it? She paused a moment, decided that when kissing her husband, she probably shouldn't be thinking about what she was forgetting. 

Ahem. Right.

But seriously, what was it! Urgh, this was annoying.

Laguna opened the door, walking in totally unannounced. "The cab guy said someone forgot a bag - whoa." Kiros bumped into him when he stopped in his tracks.

The couple pulled apart quickly, moving to opposite sides of the bed. Squall inwardly cursed at the uninvited guests. He was getting somewhere until they came in.

The president shook his head. "Aunt Ethel would be spinning in her grave."

Kiros raised an eyebrow at him. "Turning, you mean?"

"Yeah, turning." Laguna said, waving it off.

Squall remained silent for a moment. "Aunt Ethel's still… alive."

Silence.

……….

"So.. Uh, about that gala thing tomorrow night…."

……….

Awwwwkwaaaaaarrrd.

o o o

Approximately 12 hours, three leg cramps, ten awkward silences and one awkward explanation later, he was starting to wish he knew how to use his cell phone. The text option or whatever it's called. He knew women were supposed to take their time getting ready but honestly, this was pushing it. He never taken Kiros' recommendation on this hair dresser. They should have left approximately two hours ago.

It was prestigious honour to be invited to anything that the top business man Norg held. Yes, Norg. Because he knew his own father was too much of an idiot to even dream of something like this. The phrase behind every great man there is a woman didn't quite apply here. But phrase behind every idiot there has to be someone with at least half a brain did. And that was Norg. Even if he probably only gained the title by threatening to sit on the rest of the opposition. Not that he really cared who it was held by as long the press was there. And the press was definitely going to be there this year. He hadn't really listened to the information on the phone about it but he had caught certain words like, 25th something, Lover's Ball, blah, blah, stock market, blah, blah. In short, during the meeting, he probably should have been wearing one of those shirts that said, "Your mouth is moving but all I hear is 'blah, blah, blah.'"

This was so boring. He sighed, fiddling with the phone absentmindedly. Ohhh. Well, what to do you know? It had Tetris.

Sweet.

Just as he was about to get the row finished by that stupidly sneaky L shaped piece, the door opened. The hair dressed cleared her throat, and he somewhat sighed. Sayonara high score. He flipped the cell phone deciding he should probably humour the poor woman, creepy as she may be.

His wife looked rather annoyed probably from having verbal and possibly physical fights with hair dresser. They had never gotten along well from the start. He cleared this throat. "Looks good."

"Of course." The woman snapped. "But you really can't expect much, look what I have to work with."

Quistis and the woman took a moment to glare at each other, and he could clearly sense the 'Don't push it, lady' vibes from both of them.

"Get your cheque from the woman at the front. We're going now."

"It was nice seeing you Mr. Leonheart." The woman said, evidently happy with the news of money. "Even nicer watching you leave." She mumbled under her breath, watching the rather lower regions of his body.

The blonde growled at her, and Squall took her by the arm. He was getting her out of her before World War three started and ended with only one woman standing and a mess of damage he'd probably be paying for.

"Goodbye Mr. Leonheart." The woman waved and him before turning to the blonde. "Vache." She said simply.

The blonde whipped around. "You-!"

Squall rolled his eyes, literally dragging his wife out of the building.

It was going to be a long night.

o o o

The drive to the hotel had been about an hour so far, and she had fumed the entire way.

Using the word dislike for the woman, would have been like saying Godzilla was a gecko, or the shark from Jaws was a guppy. Oh no. There was raging for hate for that woman. Ever since the that other gala when the woman had pulled the straighter the wrong way…

He sighed, he just hoped she would be in a better mood when she saw all the chocolate in there.

"I don't know how you stand her." The blonde said, crossing her arms.

Or not.

"I don't. She's always been that way, ever since we first met."

"Oh.. You've met before?"

"Yeah." He ran his fingers through his hair. "A while ago."

The blonde watched him for a moment. Obviously, this was discussion he didn't want to pursue. She smiled for a moment. "I hope they give up extra blankets at the hotel."

"Why? Are you cold again?" C'mon, it's only like, minus forty degrees outside, moron. Who wouldn't be? He gave himself a mental slap. Nice.

She shook her head, with a smile. "You just steal the covers."

His ego just lost a good seventy points. He flattened his eyes. She had officially moved in a week ago. A day after the heater had been fixed… and yeah. He just hadn't gotten around to kicking her out yet. Yeah.

She looked at him for a moment. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He looked out the window. "We're here." The brunette waited until the driver opened the door before stepping out and silently offering his arm to her.

He was even more antisocial than usual. She sighed again, taking it and stepping forward to the place where they checked the invitations.

"Good evening," The man said, tipping his hat and taking the invitation and checking it over before giving it back. "Women through the left door, men through the right."

Squall blinked stupidly. This must have been the fine print didn't read.

Crap.

Another man appeared, taking the brunette by the arm. "Come with me, sir. We need to get you ready."

Ready for what…?

The blonde watched as the man recruited some passerbys to help force her husband down the hallway before turning around to meet the woman that was escorting her.

"Come with me, miss."

o o o

"This is a special three day event the gala is held on." The woman explained. "Trabian myths tell that today is the day that Ifrit and Shive disobeyed Hyne. Hyne was furious with them, so as punishment they were turned into beasts, and silenced them. Ifrit was turned into a beast with fire, and Shiva was a woman with ice." She paused a moment, sitting down beside the blonde.

"However, Hyne was pitied them. He sent them both to different corners of the world and told the lovers if they could find each other, the curse would be broken if they kiss. But since he changed them both they couldn't recognize each other. They couldn't talk to each other either, but Hyne allowed them both to keep something that would allow them to recognize each other if they ever were to meet. Shiva kept a diamond, and Ifrit kept an Amethyst. It took them three years to find each other but when they did, they shared a kiss and Hyne kept his word and let them live together. Each day of the celebration represents a year."

The woman smiled. "Tonight celebrates when they receive the curse, tomorrow the struggles of finding each other and the next when they met. It's tradition that tonight a ball is held where lovers go through that test too. The couple is spit up, and they change clothes and wear masks. They aren't allowed to speak but they can keep something that will allow their partner to recognize them. When you think you meet your partner you kiss them, and take off your mask and only let them see you. If it's not your partner, put your mask back on and keep trying. If it is, keep your mask off and go the main hall. Got it?"

The blonde was in inches of taking a run at the window in hopes of getting out of this situation, but eventually gave in and nodded.

"Okay. So now you change in this dress, and put on the mask. Do you know what you'll keep so he'll recognize you?"

She smiled after a moment. "Yes."

o o o

The ball room was packed, and she was trying to figure out how she was even going to get on the floor never mind find him. The woman behind her pointed to a small opening in the corner, and the blonde felt like scowling. So much for her excuse. "Remember, no talking." The women whispered in her ear, before leading her to the area and giving her a small push. "Good luck."

And that was that. She sighed, before going through the mass of people. She felt like groaning, everyone looked the same. Men in black, women in white. It was like the penguin ball.

She slowly made her way through the crowd. Too tall, too short. Wrong shoes. This was stupid. They didn't even tell what to look her for! God only knew what some people were wearing so that their partner would recognize them.

Suddenly someone grabbed her and pulled her around before letting go and shaking their head. Yeah. She knew the feeling. Wrong person. She sighed before continuing. Who knew getting drunk at ball would cause this much trouble? Now she was stuck with some sexy- stupid, STUPID man.

Oh, who are you tying to fool?

Deep down, you're feeling a biiiiit more than what you're willing to admit. And maybe you're just a bit happy you married him.

She growled, frustrated. That was totally not true.

Just because she was starting to get a bit flustered when he got too close -

The room went silent as the sound of a slap resonated.

She put her hand her face. Oh God. Squall felt up someone, she just knew it.

"HAROLD! How dare you kiss another woman!"

She blinked. She could have sworn someone had said something about not talking.

"Louise! I thought for sure that was you-!"

"You thought she was me! She's 20, you imbecile! "

"Well, maybe she's what I wish you look like, you old hag!"

The blonde watched, slack jawed.

"You old man! Then you wouldn't care that I was having an affair with the pool boy!"

"Not Johnny!"

The crowd gasped.

The room went silent again as the security ushered the screaming couple out of the room.

"Continue, ladies and gentlemen!" One of the security crew yelled, obviously amused.

Back to the penguin ball. A bit more paranoid this time around, she walked the crowd watching people inspect and kiss each other before sighing in disappointment and continue searching. Dammit. For all she knew he wasn't even _in_ the crowd.

She sighed, checking various men. She'd be here all night the way this was going, she was already halfway through the room and no luck. Stupid twit was probably off with some reporters or something -

Oh. She stared stupidly as a man walked by her. Hah. That was him, she was almost positive about it. Grabbing his hand, she turned him around.

Dammit. Not him. She sighed, shaking her head offering a silent apology.

The man shrugged and walked off. This was hopeless. She sighed, when she felt someone take her by the hand and turn her around as well.

This was the fourth time in fifteen minutes someone had done that. The blonde blinked as the person traced her collar bone down to where her sapphire necklace was before pulling away. She looked up at him to catch a glimpse of metal around his neck.

About bloody time. She suppressed a smile as he tilted her chin and kissed her.

After a moment, Squall took off his mask and let her see him as she did the same. She sighed, good. She was getting paranoid she had kissed some random guy.

"The first couple of the night has found each other!" The security man belted out, pointing at them.

The rest of the dance floor groaned. "How about another kiss?" The man yelled out again.

She flushed as she felt his lips brush her ear. "How about it?"

For a moment, she forgot to breath. She rolled her eyes. Just because they were in the spot light didn't mean he had to get scandalous, but ended up complying. "Yes."

She wasn't however, expecting him to the dip. Her eyes widened as he she felt her hair brush the floor. He was so dead if he dropped her. So incredibly dead. She clutched him tightly, really not wanting to put her back out if she did in this case, get dropped.

He was in the spot light. She was livid. And the crowd loved it. He was a dead man when they got back. Fan service was one thing, scaring the crap out your wife was another. Finally he pulled away, and pulled her upright.

She blinked stupidly, trying to figure out if she flushed and dizzy because he had just done the dip with her or an entirely different reason. She shook her head grabbing his arm, debating whether or not she was actually going to pass out of not.

"You alright?" He asked quietly.

"Peachy." She muttered, fixing her hair. "Just peachy."

o o o

It was three in the morning when they stumbled through the hotel room door. The blonde immediately went for the bed not even bothering to take her heels off, while he sighed taking off his shoes and shirt before laying down beside her. He stared at the ceiling of the room, listening to the quiet traffic outside. Would she be pleased with him?

The blonde watched him for a moment before sitting up. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

She pursed her lips. "I don't know what it is, but it's definitely not nothing." She sat up further to look at him. "You can tell me."

He rolled over onto his side without saying a word.

She sighed, "Please."

Silence filled the room before he finally spoke.

"She died today."

The blonde blinked before reaching out and gently touching his hair. "Your mother…?"

"Yeah."

She stroked his hair absentmindedly. "…I'm sorry."

"She would have liked you." He said quietly. _She would have liked you as her daughter in law. _

The blonde smiled. "I hope so." She watched him for a moment, as he struggled to keep his eyes open. "…Go to sleep."

He barely managed to nod before falling asleep completely.

o o o

She rolled over to wet towel the next morning. Her eyes snapped opened immediately before she scowled, if there was one thing she had told him not to do; it was leaving wet towels on the bed. Nothing was worse than waking up to a cold, wet towel.

Sighing, she sat up and looked around the room finally spotting him sitting at the hotel desk beside a bouquet of flowers. "What time is it?" She asked, rubbing her eyes. "How fast do I need to get dressed-"

"Noon."

"Noon!" She repeated, getting out of the bed in a rush. "We're late!" She exclaimed, pulling her shirt off in frenzy. "The meeting-"

"-Is over." Squall finished dryly.

The blonde froze, her shirt half over her head.

Shit.

She cleared her throat, suddenly aware she was stripping in front of him, and made a mad dash to the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

She leaned against the shower, pulling her shirt back on. Great. Nice going. It's the anniversary of his mother's death and you strip in front of him! NICE. What, it's like, 'Hi Squall. Sorry your mom died, here let me ease your pain by stripping in front of you!'

ARGH.

She slid down the shower stall to the floor. Dear God, this was embarrassing.

Embarrassing or not you can't hide in the bathroom forever, her mind nagged. Unfortunately, she knew that true. She sighed, standing up, brushing her teeth and washing her face in an attempt to calm herself down before stepping outside the door.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly, massaging her temples. "I didn't mean to…" She trailed off stupidly. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

He shrugged. "You looked tired." Not that he minded being stripped in front of. Not at alllll.

So uh, yeah. This was more than a bit awkward.

"…You're going to go see him?"

"Yeah."

She smiled at him for a moment. "I think that would make her happy."

He hoped so.

o o o

He knocked before entering the paper littered mess his father supposedly called an office. "Hey."

The president looked up wearily. "Eh?"

Squall leaned against the doorway. "We're going out." He gestured to the door, holding a bouquet of flowers in his other hand.

Laguna put his pen down, and debated for a moment before getting up. "…Yeah." Squall noted the picture of all three of them together almost hidden underneath the paperwork. His father had never been good at hiding things, but he decided not to point it out. The president walked slowly to the door before following his son outside to the parking lot.

Squall pointed to the black car before getting in and starting the ignition. Laguna sighed before getting in. "Do you, uh know where you're going? I mean, I don't know if you're bad at directions like me but-"

"Yeah, I know where I'm going." The brunette said quietly, putting the car in reverse and pulling onto the main road before flicking the indicator on as he switched lanes.

"I uh, visited her last weekend."

He took a left at the intersection, and then a right. "Kiros told me you visit her every weekend."

"Yeah." The older man sighed. "It's my fault-"

Squall sighed, flicking the indicator lights on again. "…It's not your fault."

Laguna looked up surprised. "But before you left-"

The brunette shook his head. "I blamed you because…" He sighed, "…because I had no one else to blame." He turned off the main road to the cemetery and parked the car. "…I haven't been here for years." He said quietly, getting out.

"…I loved your mother." Laguna said quietly, walking to her grave. "More than anything."

Squall kneeled silently, placing the flowers on the grave.

"…That's why I stayed with her even when I knew she was dying. I stayed because she asked."

The brunette sighed, standing up. "I know." He paused a moment. "…Dad."

o o o

So uh, yeah. That's that. Anyways, this chapter is dedicated to Cassai! My dear little friend whose off to college on the 18th so everyone wish her luck! Thanks for all reviews as usual! Hope it's not too OCC and weird! 13 pages guys and almost 5,000 words!

Vache - cow in French.


	18. Fish

After breakfast and he was free of his parent's house. Thank God.

Not that the they weren't getting over the whole awkward you're-the-dad-I-haven't-spoken-to-in-like-five-years thing, they were. But hey, awkward was still awkward, and three days was more than enough for father-bonding time for him.

"Pass the butter." Squall watched as the butter was passed across that table. 

"Sorry, I meant the jam." The brunette continued to watch as the butter was passed back and the jam was passed forward. Laguna scratched his head, "Actually, maybe it was the marmalade..." 

He felt like banging his head against the table. He had been here for at least an hour on breakfast alone, not counting the half an hour for coffee. He was seriously going to threaten someone with a - he looked down at the cutlery spotting the first thing he saw - a spork.

Yes, a spork, dammit. Not the most frightening thing to threaten someone with, but if wielded properly could probably poke someone's eye out. He sighed, alright, so threatening someone was not an option. At least not with a spork.

Kiros rolled his eyes at the end of table, watching a barely up Quistis struggle to stay awake. "Laguna… we've been here for two hours…. Again." 

The president blinked. "Oh, yeah. Okay." He put his hand to his head. "Sorry guys."

Kiros sighed, this was becoming a habit. Next thing he'd know he'd be at the dinner table until midnight. Maybe Laguna was just getting senile.

Squall eyed the spork for a moment before putting down his napkin. He was sensing a definite let's-prolong-breakfast vibe here. And he wasn't liking it, especially when he could be attempting do things that definitely aren't allowed in - ahem, these sorts of rating.

He knew where the conversation was going to be heading, 'Squall… son, how about you stay a bit longer so we can rekindle our father-son relationship-' He snorted at the idea of Laguna using any words consisting over more than two syllables but continued on with the script in his mind, '- ..which will end up with you staying in Esther forever and conclude with you getting absolutely no where with your wife.'

The brunette cringed. He wasn't liking the sounds of that at all. He was getting out of here and fast, even if he had to pull a kick the table over and run stunt. Which was looking pretty probable at the moment.

He sighed, massaging his temples. Either way, this didn't look like it was going to go well.

Really not well considering everyone had left the table except for him and Laguna. Squall groaned, dammit. He hated it when that happened. What was with people these days? Skittering off like mice. That taught him for planning out scripts in his mind.

Laguna looked up somewhat shifty as if he was expected his son to suddenly turn into a werewolf and go for his jugular. The president cleared his throat, thinking of nice fluffy bunnies in an effort to forget the previous thought.

"So uh, son-"

Oh God, here we go. Squall leaned his head on the palm of his hand.

"I'm uh… glad you came." The older man sighed. "So I guess, thanks." 

Squall shifted somewhat. "….No problem."

"So uh… um…" Laguna scratched his head. "Quistis is a real nice girl, you know. You're pretty lucky you've got her."

The brunette nodded, getting up. Great. Just wait for your own dad to say your wife's hot. He suppressed a shudder. Dear God, no.

"…Make sure you tell her. Don't let her wonder, make sure she knows you… you know, love her. You know, since I guess you haven't had the chance to tell her since you've only been for about three months- "

Wow. Squall blinked. That was one long run on sentence. And technically, it was almost four months-

Dammit.

"…You know?" He asked, dumbstruck.

Laguna smirked.

o o o

He watched still somewhat flustered from the earlier conversation as Quistis and the limo driver chatted on like there was no tomorrow. 

He didn't know what he was more bent out of shape about the fact that his own idiotic father knew he didn't originally court his wife like most people did and just kind of… woke up or the cheesy tell you love her thing that he was fairly sure he ripped off some 40's romance movie. Or novel. God only knew what his father read in his spare time.

Visions of 'Being President for Dummies' ran though his head.

The brunette shuddered.

On the subject of love, while we're on it… Falling in love? Hah. He was supposed to be the cliché business man who only cared about his money. But dammit, this was the plot twist all business men never wanted, and all the unfortunate ego maniacs were stuck with. 

Damn those stupid romantics. He cursed them all. His life was perfectly fine until she came along. He was perfectly fine being alone, selfish and being a bloody cold bastard.

Okay. Fine. Maybe he wasn't.

But that totally wasn't the point -

"Mr. Leonheart, you okay? You're spacing out-" 

"I'm fine." He grumbled. Stupid twerp. Just because there wasn't any chances of the little twerp going after his wife anytime time didn't mean he could go all buddy-buddy with him. 

"Okay." The other man squeaked out, getting the 'screw off' vibes from the other man's voice.

"So anyways, Quistis, see those rocks up on the left. The red ones? Those are from the President himself-"

This isn't anything more than a money scheme.

……

Yeah. Keep telling yourself that, buddy.

Shut up.

Just shut up.

He leaned his head on the window watching the blonde out of the corner of his eye.

Amour. Amor. Amore. Liebe.

It didn't matter what language was. He didn't like the sound of love at all.

Not one bit.

o o o

He was happy to be home. Even if only it was because he was away from his father.

If there was a packing award, she would have won it hands down. She could unpack things from the suitcases into the bedroom cabinet in record time. Her Rinoa were up to packing contests now days, and Selphie was the unfortunate judge. He was silent as he watched her fold away clothes and put them in drawers. …And it wasn't that he was lazy. He was just extremely folding and packing challenged.

It was amazing how he could be with her for hours and be silent, and still content. Anyone else and he would have been estimating how long a drop it was out of the window. His hands hung over the keyboard.

Yeah, he had deadlines. And yes, he probably should have been typing. But… Well, you know.

She looked over his way for a moment, and he quickly looked down at the laptop.

It appears the only thing he had written the whole two hours had been one word.

Love.

He hastily deleted it.

It was a typo, dammit. He had really meant to write: you'renotinloveyoumorongetoverit.

He looked up again after a moment, his fingers finding the keyboard again. She looked his way and again and he looked at the screen to check his progress. One word, again.

Love.

Dammit.

o o o

If the not so discreet winks from both Selphie and Rinoa weren't enough to put him over the edge at dinner, he was almost sure the cook would. He wasn't all sure what the man but he had caught a few words, and even if he was really rough in the foreign languages department he was sure those certain words… weren't exactly flattering. Ahem. 

Urgh. He absent mindedly poked at the fish in front of him, trying to tell if it was actually cooked or not. He sighed, deciding he had probably lost his appetite since, well… he had been poking it for about half an hour now.

…He wasn't in love. 

Yeah. Definitely not.

There wasn't any caterpillars in his stomach. Wait, no - moths. No. That wasn't it either. Wasps? 

Butterflies. That was it.

The brunette flipped the fish over with his fork. Butterflies. Psh. He didn't like butterflies anyways.

Yeah, no butterflies. He couldn't be in love. There. That was a rational answer, he decided pushing the fish to the corner of his plate.

"Squall?"

He looked up at his wife, absentmindedly dropping the fish on the floor. Clearing his throat, he quickly kicked the fish under the table, hoping no one saw it.

The chef raised an eyebrow at the action. Selphie looked like she was going to say something for a moment but shut her mouth and walked out of the room, dragging Rinoa with her.

"Are you alright?" Quistis asked, handing her plate to the chef as he left.

"Yeah." He said quickly. "Fine."

Just a little love sic- Dammit. SICK. He was sick. Horribly ill. In fact, he had to leave the table. NOW. 

"Alright then." The blonde said after a moment, disbelievingly.

Yeah. He had to make an exit like, now.

The brunette got up quickly, "I'm going to my ro-"

The next thing he saw was the ceiling. He groaned, blinking. Oh, it hurt.

Death by slipping on a fish. He could see it now. What a horrible way to go. How embarrassing. Oh, his head hurt. He was sure being sprawled out on the floor wasn't doing wonders for his tough guy image either.

God, he hoped that fish died painfully. He leaned his head back on the floor, letting out a groan as he spotted the fish near his feet.

He swore it was smirking.

Dammit. He was never eating fish again. EVER. 

He closed his eyes. God, if he was going to die he wished he would just die. He never knew floors could hurt so much. The brunette groaned again, opening his eyes.

Quistis stood above him, not quite knowing whether to laugh or call an ambulance. "Are you alright?"

No. Go get a gun and put me out of my misery. "Fine." He grit out. He looked back at the fish with a glare. He could have sworn it was mouthing 'You're in love. Suuuucker.'

The brunette groaned.

He needed a drink. Or morphine. Possibly both.

The blonde kneeled down to his level, "There's nothing wrong in admitting you need help."

Pfft. Women. They didn't understand the man's code of honor at all. Number one rule: Don't ask for help. Or directions.

He got up slowly. See? He was fine. 

Perfectly fine. Except for the fact the room was spinning. 

He was fairly sure that wasn't a good sign.

She eyed him warily, before stepping towards and put her arm around his waist.

"Men and their pride." She muttered under her breath.

He couldn't help but smile at the comment.

Two flights of stairs later and a fair amount of grumbling on both behalf's, he was on the bed with a bottle of very appreciated Advil.

"I can't believe you slipped on a fish." The blonde admitted with a smirk, after a moment of silent.

He scowled. It really wasn't that funny. "I hate fish."

Great excuse. Bloody brilliant.

"Does it still hurt?"

He sighed, brushing back his bangs. "No."

"…So how _did _you slip on the fish?" She asked him, sitting across from him. 

"Distracted." The brunette muttered.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Something distracted me." He spat out. 

"Oh. May I ask what this distracting thing was?"

You.

"Nothing." Squall muttered.

She raised an eyebrow. "But you clearly just said something distracted-"

"I lied." 

"…So you just managed to trip on a fish?"

He rolled his eyes when she wasn't looking. "Yeah."

"So nothing distracted you? At all? You just tripped on a very well placed fish?"

He opened his mouth to say something but closed it.

Damn tease. 

"Yeah."

"…I see." She said quietly, standing up. "I'll leave you to rest then."

He sighed, he could see the heart points dropping already. "You're distracting."

That, and fish are pretty slippery.

She turned around after a moment, with a small smile. "Make sure you keep an eye on where you're walking from now on."

Maybe he didn't have his eye on where he was walking but certainty had his eye on something.

Something, indeed.

She looked like she was debating something before walking over to him and sitting down next to him again. "Are you sure you're alright?"

He sighed. There was something about women, that you had to repeat things forty times if it concerns health. "Quistis, I'm fine."

She eyed him for a moment to tell if he was telling the truth. "Show me you're fine."

It hit her the moment after she said it that what she had said could have been taken many ways. She opened her mouth to clarify the request, but he didn't give her time.

He pulled her onto his lap, and watched as she blinked stupidly.

Well, this was quite the predicament.

"Very distracting." He murmured in her ear. She flushed slightly, kissing him for a moment before detangling herself from him.

"Rest." She told him quietly, before getting up and shutting the door.

She sighed, closing her eyes as she leaned against the door.

She could feel them.

The butterflies.

Damn.

o o o 

I'm home! I got home last night actually, England was amazing. I loved it. I officially want to live in Oxford, Ireland was nice too. I think I prefer England more though. I can't believe I don't get jetlag, it's awesome. I also talk 16,00 pictures. Anyways, sorry this is a quick chapter guys. I'm still unpacking my bags and stuff.

PS: I wanted to so badly to write a certain scene in this chapter, but I stopped myself. You'll see it in two or three chapters. 

…

(Waitforityou'llseeit'llheatupeventuallylikeinthetwentyrangechaptersofthestory.)


	19. Lakes

"_So… you're telling me you slipped on like, a fish?" _

He sighed, he had been over this a million times.

"…Yeah."

There was a pause on the phone before hysterical laughter.

"_You gotta be kidding me! A… a fish!" _

The brunette flattened his eyes, he knew Irvine wouldn't take it seriously. This was ridiculous. And he knew it was ridiculous, but it was his only shot at getting out of the gala he was supposed to be attending. 

"Yeah, a fish." He grit out. He knew he'd be the laughing stock of the house for a few weeks, but this was pushing it. It's not like it was the freak accident of the century.

All right. Fine, it was. But that wasn't the point.

"_And lemme guess, you like, want to get out of the gala this weekend? Sorry man. Can't do it. Norg's going to be there." _

Dammit. He sighed, "Fine. Bye then." He hung up the phone and leaning back on the bed. Great. 

That was his only shot of squeaking out of it. And that had crashed and burned in front of his own eyes. He knew Irvine wouldn't believe the story… although, he himself had to admit, it did sound rather ridiculous.

He sighed. Great, a whole weekend. Dandy. 

Bloody dandy.

"I take it it didn't work." He didn't bother looking at the amused blonde in the doorway. 

"Yeah." He sighed, finally rolling over to face her. "How do you feel about a weekend in Galbadia?"

o o o 

"…And then the publisher said to me, 'You poor thing, how ever do you live with your husband?' and I said, 'My poor thing, didn't you hear? It's quite easy living without one's husband! Especially when one has the pool boy!"

Squall sighed, massaging his temples as the crowd broke into laughter. It must have been the fourth time he had heard that story, and it still wasn't funny. The women eventually dispersed from their little huddle, and a few made their way over to him.

He could feel a headache coming on. Did all women have some sort of sensor that let them know when a man's wife was away or something?

"Oh, you look well."

"No, no, sweetie. He looks _fine_." 

"My, Mr. Leonheart; don't you look handsome?" The women cooed at him.

The hair dresser. God only knew why she at the gala, but she was. Out of the four hundred people here it just figured she would be to. He had no luck whatsoever this weekend. In between the rickety plane ride there and the PMSing woman at customs, he wasn't happy to be at this party at all. His only saving grace was that his wife was away and maybe he could squeak out of this without some massive cat fight.

He forced a smile. "Ms…" He trailed off. Damn, what was her name? Crap. "Ms…" He inwardly cringed. This wasn't good. He really should know it.

The woman looked at him expectedly as he looked around hoping for some sort of sign. He sighed, people here needed 'Hello my name is Snob Number 5794 AKA: 'INSERT NAME HERE'' tags.

"Ms…."

"Ms. Marcus, how are you?" Quistis asked, taking him by the arm.

He knew there was a reason he had gotten drunk that night. ThankyouLord. 

"Oh fine." The woman seethed, staring her down. 

Everyone here needed tags, he decided watching the two woman starring each other down. For example, he needed the: 'Hello my name is: I'm married, back off. And stop staring at my ass.' tag. 

He sighed, deciding that if given the change, both women would probably take each other out. "Ms.-"

Dammit. They really did need name tags.

"Marcus." Both women spat, the brunette cleared his throat and took a step backwards.

"Right. My pager just went off… and I need to answer it."

Both women turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

Worst excuse ever. He sighed, running his fingers through his hair.

"Your pager?" The hairdresser asked in disbelief. "Do you even _have_ a pager?"

The brunette paused a moment. Well, no. But that wasn't the point.

…This really hadn't gone according to plan. At all. Whatsoever.

And when else all fails - do something outrageously stupid. He sighed, grabbing a champagne bottle off a waiter that walked by. He took his wife by the elbow and moved her beside him before rather carelessly opening the bottle.

The women screeched as the champagne sprayed everywhere. "Sorry." Squall said curtly. "Someone must have shaken it." The women looked at each other a moment before examining their dresses.

"Dry clean only!" The hairdresser shrieked, flailing her hands about. "You're going to have to pay for this Mr.-" She fell silent, as she looked at the place where the couple had been. She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Men."

"I can't believe you did that." Quistis confessed, looking back at the crowd.

He shrugged. "It won't kill them."

The blonde smiled, "Do they always come onto you like that?"

Hadn't she noticed by now? "Yeah." He squeezed by the swarm of people by the bar towards a set of doors.

He sighed, struggling with them for a minute before finally giving in and kicking them open. The blonde sighed, as she watching him look over the balcony railing. "What are you doing?"

"Getting out of here." He said calmly before vaulting the railing.

She stared for a moment before running over to the railing. "By jumping off the balcony!" 

Squall shrugged after landing the jump a bit shakily. "Yeah."

The blonde stared down at him in disbelief. "…You couldn't have just gone through the front door?"

"Security."

Oh well then. That was a perfect reasoning for jumping off a five foot high balcony. In a white tuxedo none the less.

He looked at her. "Coming?"

Dress? Hello. She raised an eyebrow at him, her mouth slight agape. "You're insane." She said finally.

"I'll catch you." He said casually, undoing his tie.

"That's assuring." The blonde muttered sarcastically under her breath. This was ridiculous. Squall absentmindedly kicked the pebbles at his feet while waiting for her answer.

Love. Well, it was still pushing it. Love was a strong word. A mutual consent to tolerating each other. That sounded more like it.

Yeah. He glanced quickly up at her. Well, maybe-

"There she is!" Oh wonderful. The crazy famous women brigade.

"Find out where he is!"

She looked at the door, before looking down at him. "Alright, I'm coming."

He looked up at her, "Yeah."

She sighed, making a quick prayer before swinging herself over the rail. The woman behind her finally got the door open and stared stupidly at the empty balcony.

He barely held back a noise as she landed in his arms. The blonde sighed in relief and removed herself from his arms and backed away to the side of the wall.

"…I think we've got a jumper." The one girl admitted.

"…Should we, uh, call someone?" 

"But there's no one down there. I mean, if she like, jumped… she'd be on the ground."

"So, what are you saying? She flew?"

Squall smirked. "Come on." 

She took one last look up at the bottom of the balcony before following him into the darkness.

"Do you even know where you're going?"

"Yeah." He called looking back at her. "I've been here a lot."

"So there's a reason we're going through a forest in the middle of no where?"

"Yeah. It's a short cut." He turned back and took her by the arm. "Don't get lost."

She wasn't planning on it. "Won't they wonder where we went?"

"Couples disappear all the time during parties." He said simply, slipping through the tree leaves ahead of him.

The blonde raised an eyebrow at the answer but followed him anyways. Anywhere was better than back there. She ducked under the tree branch as they came to a clearing.

"A lake?" She asked, after a moment. And a dock, just for scenery's sake. 

He shrugged. "It's hot out."

Well, she could have told him that. She sighed, looking back the forest. "What are you going to do? Go swimming?" By the time she turned around he already had his shirt off. She stood there for a moment in disbelief. 

"I thought there'd be people here." He muttered, kicking his shirt to the side.

Of course, because everyone that attended galas apparently skipped out and went swimming.

She stood there stupidly for another moment. "Do you do this every time you come here?" 

"Yeah."

"Well then…" She said slowly, "You wouldn't mind if I helped?"

It was his turn to sit and stare. She rolled her eyes, and pushed him off the dock. Men.

After a moment he resurfaced, sputtered and glaring. Those were his good dress pants. He sighed, he was just thankful his wallet and cell phone were in his tux.

She smiled at him, giving him a small wave. He continued to tread water with a half hearted glare. "Coming in?"

The blonde raised an eyebrow at him. "In this dress?"

He debated for a moment whether or not to say 'well, you can take it off' but decided against it. He just took the safe option and shrugged.

"Do whatever you want."

She sighed after a moment. "Turn around."

The author did as he was told, trying to admire the scenery or lack there of. "You can turn around on now." 

He lazily turned around, nearly forgetting to tread water for a moment when he saw the dress on the dock and her in the water. 

…He hadn't expected that.

The blonde cleared her throat. "You can't see anything, can you?"

Was that a trick question? He debated a moment before taking a quick look. 

"Nothing." Damn water.

She sighed in relief. "Good."

The brunette continued treading, taking a moment every now and then to look around.

"How deep is the water?" 

He shrugged. "I can touch the bottom. There's bricks." 

She swam over to where he was and tried out the theory. "Hmm. You're right."

Well, there really wasn't any doubt. 

"So people actually skip out and come here?"

"Yeah. It's popular."

Silence.

She sighed. "So when you said couples disappear that means that people probably think we're…"

"Yeah."

"…Oh."

Silence. 

"Were you scared?" Squall asked after a moment.

"Of what?"

"Jumping."

"Jumping off the balcony?" She asked, confused.

"Yeah."

She smiled. "Not really."

"You've done it before?"

She looked at him flatly. Of course. Because she totally went jumping off balconies as a hobby. A smile crossed her face. "I suppose part of me knew you'd catch me."

Of course, the logical part of her was screaming 'YOU MORON' but that was besides the point.

The blonde sighed, that came out way to cheesy. Oh well.

He looked at her a moment before pulling her against him. She stared at him like a rabbit caught in the head lights as their bodies met, before kissing him.

She wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him tighter against him. She closed her eyes and his hands traveled down the side of her body back to her bra, tugging on the strap.

Her fingers tangled in his hair, their mouths parting only to take a quick breath of air. The bra strap slid against her shoulder as he pulled it downwards -

"HEY YOU! GET OUT OF MY LAKE!" 

They turned instantly to look at an angry old man shaking his fist at them. "GET OUTTA THERE BEFORE I CALL THE COPS!" The man shook his head. "Hippies."

The blonde stared open mouthed, before he pulled her to the dock. "Hurry up."

She was a bit out of it while getting her dress on, as they sprinted through the forest. They almost… If the man hadn't… Oh God. How embarrassing. How utterly embarrassing. She sighed, somewhat managing to sprint in the pair of whatever brand name shoes she was wearing.

She sighed as they came back to the party entrance, walking up the front steps and past the security. The hair dresser watched them go by with a smirk. "What have you two been up to?"

"Shower." The said in unison.

The hairdresser smirked even further. "Had fun?"

The blonde stared her down, feeling very much like replying 'had a nose job?'.

The blonde and the other woman glared at each other for a moment before Squall sighed and broke it by pulling them apart.

Women.

"I hate that woman." She hissed to Squall who rolled his eyes upwards. Unfortunately, that resulted in them walking into another couple. "I'm sorry-"

Or actually, a man. Her bad.

She looked up to a very obese, scary looking man. "What do we have here, fufufufu?" His beady eyes turned to Squall. "Oh Mr. Leonheart, how nice to see you… fufufufu."

Oh shit. 

"Hello." He said curtly. "..How are you?"

"Good, fufufufu." The man turned to the blonde. "And who is this pretty little specimen?"

The blonde already didn't like it. She looked up at the man before taking Squall's hand. "I'm his wife."

Both Norg and Squall did a double take, the latter of the two recovering quicker. "I see, fufufufu. May I have this dance than?"

As if on cue, the waltz started up. She shook her head after a moment. "I'm sorry. I promised my husband the first dance."

RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY.

"Loyal, fufufufu. Loyal people get no where in the world." The man narrowed his eyes. "I'll see you soon then… fufufufu."

As he waddled off, Squall took her head and lead her out to the ballroom floor.

Whoa. His mind was reeling. That was the first time he had introduced herself as his wife… willingly. …It only took what, four months? He looked back at his wife who was surprisingly quiet. He would have bet fifty dollars that she would have been muttering about the hair dresser by now… but nothing. Not a peep. 

What's wrong?" He asked quietly, when no one was looking. 

"Nothing. I'm fine."

He looked at her a moment before sighing. "Was it Norg?"

She shook her head. "No." 

"Is it me?"

She looked away, and he sighed again. He looked around before leading her upstairs to the hotel room. She stayed silent as he fished out the key and unlocked the room before sitting down on the bed.

She eyed the bed and opted for the chair. "Tell me what's wrong?"

The blonde looked away for a moment before looking back at him. "We almost…" She trailed off with a sigh. "I don't know if I'm ready… for…" 

"That's what it's about?" He asked in disbelief.

She shot him a glare. That's it!

He sighed, patting the bed beside him. She debated a moment before joining him, watching as he leaned his elbows on his knees as if debating what to say.

"I won't ever force you to do something you don't want to." He said after a moment, surprising himself that the sentence came out so well. "You can… tell me when you're ready."

She took his hand slowly. "Alright."

Silence.

"…Squall?"

"Yeah." 

"Why was that man yelling at us?"

Other than the fact we were making out in his lake? He sighed. "It was private property."

"…Private property?"

"…Yeah." 

She opened her mouth to say something but closed it. "Never mind. I don't want to know."

He smiled to himself. 

Maybe love wasn't such a strong word.

o o o

Gah. Why does this seem so much longer than it actually is? Anyways, apparently I lied about the chapter 20 thing. It's in this chapter. It was originally written then taken out, but then I consulted with a dear friend, and well, it's back. Oh yeah, I don't remember that much about Norg. I just remember he said 'fufufufu' a lot. …At least I hope that was him. Heh.

PS: PLEASE DON'T KILL ME FOR THE MAKE OUT SCENE. I'm too young to die.


	20. Tables

He looked the other way in an attempt to ignore the hair dresser that was making eyes at him for the last three hours. She always had been rather persistent. The author sighed as his wife and the woman started another glaring contest. He lost track of who had won or who started it, he assumed he gave up after the number hit the two hundred range. He was so almost free it hurt. The last night of the stupid gala thing and he was gone in the morning.

As soon as he got through this disaster in waiting.

This was ridiculous. He was going to kill the man who came up with the bright idea of putting his wife and his bloody obvious admirer on either side of him. They might as well have asked for a cat fight. It was rather embarrassing, really. He knew that everyone there either hated each other or wanted their spouse or partner, but no one showed it as much as the two women beside him. He held back a sigh when the waiter finally came between the hair dresser and him after debating for a few minutes. They even scared the bloody waiter away. Lord help him.

He just was counting his lucky stars that dinner was over. After all, how worse could it get?

It was as hairdresser was deciding that he would obviously make both a good shoulder and arm rest it came to him that, yes; things definitely could and would get worse. He sighed, moving her arms off of him. "Ms-" Dammit. What was her name?

"Ms…" Thinkofhernamebeforeshemolestsyouandthisgetsbloody.

He really was bad with names now that he thought about it. Really bad. He rolled his eye shifting his shoulder so she might get a hint. She didn't move. In fact, she decided to cuddle a bit closer. He groaned. It's not like she didn't know he was married.

Quistis, meanwhile, was trying to understand why some people couldn't grasp the concept of marriage. Or subtle hints of GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY HUSBAND in eye language, for that matter.

Either way, Squall was counting down the seconds to either a cat fight or some sort of event that would make a couple hundred news people happy. And no matter which one it was, he was going to be the unlucky bugger caught in the middle.

Literally. He was stuck in between the table and the wall.

Lucky bugger, he knew.

The fact that the other was practically nuzzling him wasn't making the situation any better. He nudged her again. Nothing. He sighed, barely catching his wife's eye before she quickly looked in the other direction.

She's wasn't going to be in a good mood later on.

He nudged his wife lightly but she turned away. Great. Now he was getting the silent treatment. He could practically feel the other woman on his arm grinning. It's not like he wanted another appendage himself. At least not her, for that matter. 

"Quistis." He whispered, she continued looking in the other direction.

He sighed, trying to wiggle the woman off his arm. "Can you please get off?" He hissed at her.

She didn't seem to take the hint. Great. Just great. He was stuck in between two women. His very annoyed wife, and some crazy obsessed woman. Still trying to get his left arm free, he used the other one to take his wife's hand under the table.

She looked at him a moment trying to keep her glare in place but eventually gave up and gave him a small smirk. Probably getting a kick out of his current situation despite her evident dislike of the other woman.

"Get her off me." He whispered, still shaking his arm.

The blonde sighed, probably pitying him before kicking her foot underneath the table. Squall winced instead of her supposed target. "Sorry."

"Why don't you kick her then?" She asked quietly, leaning over his way.

Squall sighed. "She's a bit preoccupied with her legs."

The blonde raised an eyebrow before sighing. "Knock over the water."

"…That's white wine, Quistis."

"Oh." She paused. "She wasn't this… determined getting you last time. Why now?"

He sighed, still trying to get her off. "Because you're here." 

She had to admit, that made her feel a bit special. Most likely for all the wrong reasons, but that really wasn't the point. The point was - Oh for God's sake - she was still on him.

The blonde sighed, trying to keep her temper in check. Flirting was one thing. Groping was another. And things going on under the table she couldn't and probably didn't want to see was a whole different topic.

This was ridiculous. But not because of she was jealous. Because, of course, she wasn't jealous. Not at all. Not one little tiny - oh, she totally just saw that woman pull at this jacket.

She was so totally going down. 

The blonde glared at the other woman and slowly put her arm around his neck.

Squall sighed. He wasn't seeing how this was helping. It was like waving a red flag in front of bull. If anything, this was getting them closer to each other so there was more chances of a fight breaking out.

He just hoped they both weren't on that certain time of the month.

Yes, _that_ one.

He was counting the inevitable, they were about to kill each other; and everyone else was trying to make it look like they weren't looking when they obviously were. He vaguely wondered if he could somehow manage to get his pen out of his jacket pocket and write: HELP ME on the napkin by him. Not that anyone would risk their hand or limb for that matter to get in between the women and help him. Not a sane person, anyways.

How did he get himself into this predicaments anyways? It's not like - He absentmindedly cut off the rest of the sentence in his mind in order to turn to the woman beside him. The one he wasn't married to. Confusing, we know.  
The said woman was currently trying to get her hand down on his shirt.

The brunette sat there open-mouthed for a minute in surprise, not even blinking. Someone at the opposite at the end of the table even knocked over a glass of wine when they got sight of the new turn of events.

And yet, no one offered help he noted dryly. He was definitely the main appetizer and entertainment of the night. "Get your hand out of my shirt." He hissed at her, trying to bat her hand away. Unfortunately, with two women draped over him, it made things rather difficult.

"You can't say you've never thought of cheating on her?" The woman asked, titling her head.

Squall quickly made a prayer as he felt his wife tighten her grip on his shoulder. He needed a drink. "No, he hasn't." Quistis said coolly, staring her down.

"Let him talk."

The author was silent, making an amazingly good impression of a bass. 

"He's tired." Quistis said quickly. "Of… last night's activities."

Squall missed the glass of wine in front him, knocking it over at her words. Crap. Both women stood up to avoid any messy stains, dragging him up with him.

The other woman snorted. "My room was right beside yours. I doubt anything happened last night."

The blonde was silent for a moment. That backfired royally. "They probably couldn't hear anything over your snoring."

Squall stared. Good one, Quistis, good one. She's going to kill you now.

"Excuse me!" The woman roared. The brunette cringed, trying to ignore everyone that was looking at them. "Nothing can compare to the embarrassment of him being married to someone like you! If it were me, I'd rather die than drag something home like you. The shame, the poor thing. I bet he's waiting for the divorce papers right now. He can't handle being married to such a thing."

Squall twitched slightly, looking at his wife who had gone a few shades paler.

"I mean, really. She came out of no where. She has no proper background, she might as well be a mutt. No where near out standards. She's so plain, ugly even. Yes, a mutt. I could even call you a-"

"Be quiet." Squall said smoothly. The woman whirled around to him as her had flew to her mouth. "…Don't compare her to you."

"You can't possibly-! You could never love such a plain thing! Look at her!"

He kept his eyes level with hers as he walked over to the blonde, turning her towards him. "I am. She's beautiful."

Quistis stared at him, not quite sure whether to be flattered or wondering where he got the lines from. Probably a bit of both.

"You-! You… You can't! Not with her! It must be a mistake! I bet you faked the entire marriage! I bet you only got married to her by accident! It must have been an accident!"

Squall sighed. "The only accident here is you. I don't regret marrying her."

"You can't! I won't let you take him! I've loved him for years!" The woman yelled, tears running down her face. "He's the only man I've ever loved!"

The blonde watched her silently, her eyes softening. "I'm sorry." She said quietly.

"The hell you are!" The woman screeched, raising her hand in an effort to backhand the other woman. Quistis quickly brought her hand up to block, stepping backwards. Before either could realize who was going to get hit or who was hitting in the first place, Squall grabbed the woman's hand with an exasperated sigh.

"Get out of my sight." The woman watched him as he let go of her hand, eyes still teary.

"I… can't believe… you… I can't believe you married her."

The brunette rolled his eyes, stepping towards his wife, before bringing his hand to her cheek. The blonde stared at him a moment, trying to suppress a laugh. Who had given him these lines? How many times had he rehearsed? All thoughts of trying to calculating when he would have rehearsed and who would have couched him stopped abruptly when he caught her lips with her own.

The blonde closed her eyes as his hand found hers, their wedding rings pressed together. Married. Legally, they were married. But as for a bond between the soul and body… she wasn't sure. And was that woman right? Was he ashamed to show her off? Was she really mutt…? Did he see her as that?

Was is really a mistake to get married to him?

…And was everyone still staring? She pulled away from him, horrified she had practically had a make out session with him in front of about a hundred people. Looking around she saw many people were probably about as red as she was and one particular fellow who had a crack hanging limp in his mouth. He had probably forgotten he was going to eat in the first place.

Squall held back a laugh at her down right mortified expression as the rest of people cleared their throats. "…Is that at all?" Someone asked from the back of the room. He rolled his eyes, taking her by the hand and leading her from the dining room.

He doubted she was going to go for dessert after that fiasco. That and he needed some air. A lot of bloody air. The blonde looked back for a moment to where the woman had been before only to find it vacant. She sighed before following her husband out to empty ballroom.

"How could you do that right in front of her?" She finally asked, whirling around at him.

He sighed. "She's been after me for years. I've told her no several times."

"You planned it then." The blonde said after a moment. "You had this elaborate rejection involving me. Who told you what to say?"

"What?" 

"Everything you said. Who told you what to say? Irvine? Allen? Rinoa?"

"..What makes you think I planned it?" He asked, brushing his bangs out of his face.

"You couldn't possibly have meant what you said…" The words died on her lips when he saw his expression. "…You meant it?"

He shrugged, walking away. "…It doesn't matter."

The blonde stared after him a moment before walking after him, grabbing his arm. "It does! …I need to know." She bit her lip as he turned around. "You don't regret it? At all?"

The author shook his head. "No." Slowly, he raised his hand and let it brush against her cheek. "You're really are… beautiful." She closed her eyes, a small smile on her lips. "I…meant every word." He leaned in letting their lips brush lightly, before pulling a bit. "I lo-" 

"Squall! Squall!"

He jerked back leaving the blonde in anticipation of a kiss. She opened he eyes, only to see another girl in his embrace.

Her eye twitched. "…What? …Who is this?"

"I'm Ellone." The girl stated, smiling at her still in his embrace.

The blonde stared for a moment. "No, you're not. You're with my husband-"

Squall sighed, obviously frustrated. "Ellone, Quistis."

"Squall, she's not _alone_-" The blonde grit out, barely managing to keep her temper in check. One woman with her husband was pushing it. Two was asking for some blood and guts.

"No. My name is Ellone." The girl, clarified, releasing herself from his arms.

At this point, the blonde didn't quite care what her name was but sat there looking stupid for a moment. "Oh."

Squall sighed. "She's my cousin."

Funny. Could have sworn she was your part time lover, the blonde thought darkly.

The girl stuck out her hand to the blonde. "A pleasure to meet you."

The blonde forced a smile, taking her hand. "Nice to meet your acquaintance."

"I thought I was going to miss the party all together." The girl sighed. "Squall, you missed the reunion again this year. Aunt Kadowaki's going to mad." The brunette mumbled something she couldn't quite catch, and the girl frowned before turning back to the blonde. "So, this Quistis right?" She smiled at the woman, before checking her watch. I was supposed to meet Watts an hour ago! I'd better go find him. I just wanted to stop in and say hi." She placed hand on the woman's shoulder. "Timber Maniacs Issue 34." She whispered to her, before walking off. "See you later, Squall, Quistis!"

The couple watched as she walked off, both some what in a dumbstruck gaze. 

"…That was unexpected." The blonde said quietly before turning back to him. "What were you saying before?"

"…Nothing."

The blonde furrowed a brow. "You said something. I heard you. It was 'I' something. What was it?" 

"Nothing." He repeated, adjusting his tuxedo before turning back to the stairs to get to their room.

"Squall!" She called after him, grabbing his hand so he would turn towards her. "Tell me. …Please."

He sighed. "…I was going to say thought that dress looked nice on you."

The blonde beat down her crestfallenness, forcing a smile. "…Thank you." She looked away for moment before turning back to him, her hand still on his as the walked to their room. He was silent as he unlocked the room, and kicked off his shoes before heading to the bathroom. The blonde was silent for a moment. "Squall?"

"Yeah?" His answer was muffled by the door, and she sighed as she changed into her night wear.

"…Do we have Timber Maniacs here?" 

There was a pause. "…On the night stand."

The blonde quickly folded her dress before walking over the pile of magazines, rooting through them before finding the one she was looking for.

Squall walked into the room only to find a very red faced Quistis. She looked up at him before hastily putting down the magazine, clearing her throat. He raised an eyebrow silently, as she got into bed evidently flustered. "What's wrong?" 

"Nothing."

"…You sure?" He asked for a moment.

"I'm sure." She said, her voice a bit higher than usual. "Goodnight."

"…Goodnight." The brunette watched her for a moment before lying down beside her.

Silence. 

"Squall?"

"Yeah."

She sighed. "Does… Ellone usually give people odd advice?"

"What kind of advice?"

The sound of rustling sheets made him open his eyes as she turned to him. "Advice." She said sternly.

He sighed. "What advice, Quistis?"

"…Intimate advice." 

"What kind of intimate advice?"

"_Intimate_ advice, Squall." She said, stressing the intimate part.

"…What kind?"

She sighed exasperatedly, mumbling something about denseness. "Private advice."

"…That's the same as intimate, Quistis." 

The blonde sighed again. "Things that go on in the bedroom that concern you and I. That's only happened once as far as we both know."

The brunette cleared his throat. "No." 

"Alright." She said, lying back down.

Silence. 

"…Even if we were going to…" She trailed off. "…You know… I doubt we'd need advice."

He smiled despite his best effort not to, kissing her shoulder. "Good night."

"Good night."

I got my paycheck today. I feel rich even though I'm totally not. Ahem. Anyways, I finally got to chapter 20. I'm quite proud of myself. I suppose it would be very unrealistic to hope for 300 reviews before the next chapter, huh? Oh well. A girl can hope. Oh right, question. Do we have a Quall forum yet? Just curious. 

PS: SEVEN PAGES. And it's three AM in the morning and I have work tomorrow. Please don't expect and grammar or spelling miracles here.


	21. Offices

"And then what?"

The blonde sighed. It was like telling a story to two five year olds. "I asked him what he said, and he said he said the dress looked nice on me."

Selphie stared at the woman like she had gotten her winning lottery ticket stolen. "…Bummer."

"Well, you don't think he was…"

"Isn't it obvious he was?" 

"He probably just meant to say-"

The petite maid sighed exasperatedly.

Some people were just oblivious. She was a prime example of it.

Selphie put her hands on her hips and tried to strike an intimidating pose. She failed miserably since the blonde was fairly sure she had seen mice that had looked more menacing than her, but that was besides the point. "He's in love with you."

The blonde held back a laugh. "You can't be serious."

"…You never noticed anything? He's done a complete 360 since you've been here."

A lot of things had done a 360 since she gotten here. Whether he was included on the list or not, she wasn't quite sure. Quistis gave a half hearted smile before getting up from the chair. "…I still doubt it."

"Suuuure you do." Selphie sang with a smug grin, only to have it fade when she realized the other woman wasn't listening.

"So you're going to tell us you're not in love with him?" Rinoa asked from the back of the room, deciding it was probably her turn to shine in the conversation. 

The blonde paused a moment at the door before leaving and slamming the door shut.

The maids smirked. "She's head over heels."

o o o

He had seen things go smoother in rugby matches than last night. It had been down right embarrassing. Not to mention being an outright ego crusher. The poor thing didn't have a very high rate of recovery as it was, and last night wasn't helping.

He had been so close to getting it off his chest. So incredibly close. And then Ellone happened.

Argh.

The brunette sighed, looking over his paperwork a moment before letting his eyes wander elsewhere. Why is it three of the simplest words in the English language were the hardest to get out? I, love and you. It's not like they were even hard to pronounce or understand. And yet whenever he tried to say them it was like he was trying to say some complicated science term. 

But then again, he supposed that was the essence of love. 

That, and making a complete and utter moron out of yourself. He sighed again, his eyes wandering off of the papers.

Alright, even he had to admit this was bloody boring. Especially when there was definitely, definitely better things to look over.

Like his wife, for instance. Who had conveniently just stormed in and was doing laps around the room. Which wasn't helping his work habits, only making him feel like he had a major case of ADD since he was constantly looking from his paper work to her and back.

He felt like smacking his head against the desk.

This was so not cool. Why couldn't she just go somewhere else? He wasn't going to get anything done at this rate. Not that he would if he was alone, but that wasn't the point.

He sighed, pushing the paper away from his desk but then bringing it back. From her body language it didn't seem like she was up for talking. Or even being social by the looks of it. He wasn't crazy, he wasn't going to go and try and talk to her when she was in a bad mood.

It was one of the rare occasions it was just better to sit down and shut up than try to do anything worthwhile. He watched as she continued doing laps before shaking his head with a sigh. It was making him dizzy just watching her.

It seemed like forever before she finally gave an exasperated sigh and sat down.

Thank God.

"Squall?"

He forced himself not to look up from his paperwork. "What?"

She sighed. "…What were you going to say last night?"

The brunette almost dropped his pen. He hadn't expected that question. "When?" He asked after a moment, trying to dance around the subject.

She gave him a flat look.

Damn. There wasn't any way to get out this time. She was blocking the exit and unless he was going to pull a flying squirrel; jumping out the window wasn't an option either. 

In short, he was screwed.

He sighed. This whole inevitable confession had gone much better in his mind. Stuck in a freezing office with the AC on like no tomorrow wasn't exactly the most ideal place for him to confess it. And yet, here they were.

"I was going to say-"

He nearly grabbed a near by stapler and whipped at the door when Rinoa barged in. The girl stood there for a moment before inwardly cursing. She knew she had horrible timing but this was pushing it. Selphie was going to kill her. She totally interrupted something.

"I… um, well there's someone at the door for you, sir."

The blonde subconsciously twitched in annoyance. Out of all the times for someone to be at the bloody door -

Squall sighed. "Who is it?"

"He didn't say…" Rinoa trailed off sheepishly, absentmindedly tapping her foot against the door. She sighed. "I'll uh, go get his name-"

"Squall, why don't you go see who it is?" Quistis asked, interrupting the other woman.

The brunette sighed. "Whatever."

The two women watched as he left before turning to each other. "What did I interrupt?"

The blonde sighed. "Nothing." 

"Nothing? Come on, you're lying. Tell me. Something was definitely going on."

"Nothing happened."

"What? You were going to kiss?"

"No."

"Hug?" 

"No."

"You weren't going to… In the office were you…?"

The other woman twitched. "…No." 

"Then what?"

"Nothing." The blonde grit out. "Nothing at all." She sighed before calming herself down. "What did that man want?"

The raven hair girl shrugged. "He said something about a book tour. It's been scheduled for a while now. I guess they're just confirming all the info now." She scratched her head. "I hope they are, anyways. I mean, it starts on Thursday."

Quistis stared at the woman blankly. …And when exactly, was he going to mention this to her? "Thursday?" She asked, massaging her temples.

"Yeah. But you've got to at least be down in Trabia by Tuesday. Let's see, today's Saturday. So that gives you Sunday to pack, Monday for the actually flight and jetlag. It works out, I guess."

The blonde continued to stare at the woman like she had just walked home after her own funeral. Someone was going to pay. Dearly. "I see. And how long does this tour last, exactly?"

Rinoa absentmindedly ticked numbers off on her fingers. "…Two weeks, I think. Be sure to pack a lot."

She sighed. This wasn't going to be a fun two weeks. She could already see the fan girls and freezing weather ahead. The picture wasn't looking perfect. It looked like a friggen' cold hell.

"How long as he known about this?"

Rinoa sighed, leaning against the door. "He's had it planned since last Christmas, I think. I know he signed the papers in January though."

She could feel her eye twitching already. The maid looked at her with sympathy. "I heard Trabia's nice this time of year?"

Yeah. It was only -20 instead of -30.

Real nice. Real. Bloody. Nice.

Rinoa checked her watch. "Well, I'd better get going. I have to get the table set." She waved before making a hasty exit. The blonde stared at her, crossing her arms. She was a smart girl. She knew how to boot it and not get caught in the cross fire.

She must have seen Squall coming.

The author sighed, shutting the door after his entrance. It was good thing too. Because she would have shut it. Whether he was fully inside or not.

"When where you going to tell me?"

He sighed, taking a seat in the chair. "Tell you what?"

"About the tour. You could have at least given me some notice."

He lazily flipped through some paper work. "I tried to. At the gala."

The blonde stared blankly at him for a moment before nodding silently. "I see." She said quietly. "That's what you meant then."

That's what he meant? He furrowed his brow for a moment. She didn't mean when he - 

Squall looked up only to see an empty room.

"…Dammit." 

o o o 

Well, that was certainly embarrassing. It was good thing she hadn't bet any money on the fact that he was going to confess.

The blonde sighed, laying flat on her stomach. She should have known not even to listen to Selphie and Rinoa at this point. It figured the one time she would actually try to lend an ear would be the time they were off the mark by a bloody mile.

Maybe she thought he was beginning to care. Or that maybe she was, as well.

So where did they stand then? 

She sighed. It was all so confusing.

Really. She knew marriage was supposed to be confusing. For the first month. It had been four months now. They should have been over the awkward period by now. If they were actually in a normal marriage, that was.

Argh. Leave it to her to get married to some moron.

She sure knew how to pick 'em.

o o o

He should have a newscast with him. He should have whole squad of paramedics with him, because frankly, even going in there was worthy of a death defying stunt. 

From his limited, limited knowledge of women, he at the very least knew was picking up a 'screw-off-you-idiot' vibe. …Even from half way down the hallway.

He sighed. She had taken the whole thing the wrong way. That, and he really hadn't explained himself properly. They were just a really messed up couple. Neither or them knew what exactly what they were doing.

It was like dumb and dumber relationship wise.

Argh. He paused at the door way. He still had time to back off. There were easier ways to kill himself. They were probably less painful too. Even the door seemed to be warning him off. It was like there a sign there saying IMPENDING DOOM. BACK OFF.

He sighed, before knocking on the door. He wasn't even sure why he was knocking on the door. It was his own room. Surely this was a moment to just stride in and mutter 'whatever'. He knocked again only to hear no answer. He rolled his eyes. Great. Now she was just ignoring him. There was only so much abuse he could take.

"Quistis?" Nothing. He sighed, knocking again. He cleared his throat as a few butlers walked by. Alright, this was just humiliating. He wasn't waiting out there all day. Or night. Whatever.

He knocked one final time before entering. No damage, that was always a good sign. Now to actually find her. He spotted her on the bed. Bingo. "Quistis?"

She really was keeping up the cold shoulder. God, this was twice in one week. He was on a bad streak this time. He was going to be the laughing stock of the house. The one who could not only not get any from his wife, but not even be on talking terms. Oh yeah. He was a real charmer alright.

He rolled his eyes at the thought, spotting her on the bed. "Hey." No answer.

He really did it this time. The brunette made a silent prayer before leaning over her, fully ready to bolt if the circumstances were permitting. He stared a moment before sighing.

Some could have told him she was bloody asleep.

Talk about embarrassing. The brunette got up before throwing the covers over her. Well, this made things a bit easier. He didn't have to plan out this elaborate skit illustrating the fact he hadn't totally shot her down. At least not on purpose. 

He stared at her moment before leaning down and giving her a gentle kiss on the lips.

"I love you."

o o o 

Okay, I admit this was a half asses chapter. But this is the only time I have to time to update this chapter so it's either now, or Christmas. I've tests, exams and art shows that are killing my time. Sorry for the lack of effort. Really. I hope you can at least get some enjoyment out of this chapter. Worse comes to worse, if you hate I can go back and reupload it some time but for now this is as good as it's gets guys.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CASS! Everyone else, ignore that. :D


	22. Clocks

He didn't even really know if she was speaking to him or not, but they were on a twelve hour flight to Trabia whether they liked it or not. Which he knew, she didn't. He could honestly say he had never seen someone else who could integrate their anger into a packing technique before her. He was surprised the suitcase had even made it past customs to be honest, since she had a bit of history of going over the top in packing when she was mad. He himself even inspected the luggage for a BMI tag.

Not that it mattered because he obviously wouldn't have had the brilliant luck to someone squeak out of this one this time. Not even Houdini could get out of this one. And he was sure if the famous magician had been in his position, he sure as hell would have tried. He sighed, leaning his head back on the seat. This plane was way too long, that and the movie that was playing sucked. And despite common belief, the gum wasn't helping.

He sighed. It was going to be a long twelve hours.

o o o

It was bloody freezing. No ifs, ands or buts about it. Squall stared blankly at the driver in the limo, did cars here not have heating or something? Did Trabia itself have heating? Maybe that was a better question since even customs was freezing too.

This did however, present a very good excuse for cuddling. With or without clothes.

The author cleared his throat. Bad Squall, bad. He leaned back further in his seat, wondering if the jetlag had hit his wife yet considering the fact she was already curled up sleeping. She was like a bear or something, whenever she got anywhere near an airport she'd be out like a light.

"Is this the place?" The driver snapped, slamming down on the breaks nearly sending Squall through the windshield. The latter sat and glared for a moment before actually looking out and checking.

"Yeah." Prick. He glanced at his wife for a moment. Still asleep. He sighed before turning to the driver. "Get the bags."

Getting the bags was definitely the easier of the two tasks he could have chosen. Getting through revolving doors with dead weight was the harder one by far, but he wasn't going to get that guy do it in a million years. Even if he did almost do a face plant while trying to get to reception desk.

The women at reception looked at him like he had just walked out of Snow White - with Snow White. He sighed, shifting his wife in his arms before looking fixing them with a glare. It really was easier carrying her in than waking her up in such a small space. There was little room to run or hide in a car, considering the fact they had been on a major road and opening the door probably would have resulted in a major accident. Or at least him being shoved out of the car door. And frankly, the title of 'road kill author' was so not cool.

Either way, he didn't want to consider how many ways she could kill him in less than five minutes and still be able to blame it on traffic. "How many to a room?" The woman at reception asked him, trying to look at the painting behind him, even though it was really hard not to stare. Squall stared at the woman blankly. Did she think he had smuggled a third person in in the luggage or something?

"I've got reservations." He mumbled, trying to kick his bags upright since the driver had practically thrown them on the floor.

"Name, please?"

He sighed. "Squall Leonheart." He was in a bit of hurry considering the fact he was positive he was going to pull his back any second now. The woman scanned through the computer. Any second now, lady. Really.

"I'm afraid we don't have your reservation, sir."

The brunette glared. "It's been reserved for three months."

"I'm sorry, sir. There's no record. Is there any other name it could be under?"

He sighed. "No."

"Are you sure? There's no other name it could be under? Did someone register it for you, perhaps?"

"Yeah. My manager registered it."

The woman nodded. "I see. I'll try looking for it again." Squall shifted her in his arms again, annoyed. "Sir. I found your room. I'm sorry, I was just assuming it was a normal room."

He stared the woman. Assumed it was a normal room? She handed him two key cards before standing up. "Your room is 12H, first class Honeymoon Suite."

The author twitched.

o o o

He set her down on the bed before starting a subconscious how-to-kill-Irvine-in-the-most-painful-way-list. That was just downright sneaky. He should have seen it coming, the author ran his fingers through his hair before looking at the clock. 9:01am. Damn. He forgot about the time difference. He sat down at the edge of the bed. That meant he had about two hours to recuperate before a board meeting.

Wonderful.

He was going to be chipper for this meeting already. Real chipper. So damn chipper he'd probably want to strangle the person next to him. Yes, that chipper.

Argh. This tour just hadn't started out on the right foot. Neither had his weekend. Luckily, however, both were only two days. And he would persevere.

Now, if only he could figure out how exactly to get his butt out of the dog house he'd be set.

o o o

This officially won stupidest idea of the year. And he won stupidest person of the year for signing up for it. Squall stared blankly at the chart in front of him. Really, like he actually cared what they said. He had seen paint drying that had been more interesting than this.

At least at the time, it had seemed like a good idea. Too bad it bombed.

The brunette sighed, his gaze fixed on the clock. He had a ten minute break in exactly… 3..2...1.

"The meeting break beings now." The man drone, fixing his glasses. "Please be back in ten minutes."

Squall stretched before getting up and heading for the lobby. Not that he had been waiting for this exact moment for the past two hours. Never. Because not in a million years would this meeting be as boring as hell.

He found a waiting chair before sitting down and digging his cell phone out of his jacket. The screen beeped a moment before going to the main menu, and he sighed. Little yellow ducks. Really. This was the last time he let Selphie program his new phone.

The brunette switched it back it to an acceptable screen saver before putting in the hotel room number. He sighed, listening to the rings before finally hearing the sound of the other receiver clumsily being dropped and then picked up.

"_Hello?" _

He blinked. He hadn't actually thought that she would have picked up the phone. "Hey." He paused a moment, absentmindedly tapping his foot against the floor. "…Did I wake you up?"

"_No." _There was a short laugh. "_I was just staring at the ceiling, to be honest." _The brunette stared at the phone a moment, confused. Well, someone was being surprisingly nice_. "How's your meeting going?" _

He sighed. "…Boring." The author leaned back in the chair, watching the clock.  
_  
"How much longer is it?" _

"Two hours." He felt like bashing the clock's face and rearranging the hands so he could get out of there. Damn. It didn't even look like it was moving. "Be ready to go when I get back."

And it was as he was leaning back further in his chair he finally noticed the 'CLOCK IS BROKEN' sign.

Oh bugger.

He quickly brought the phone to his ear. "Got to go."

"_Wha-" _

Click. He sighed before starting off in a brisk sprint towards the board room.

Dammit. The title of 'Man most late for board meetings' was so not cool.

o o o

She figured she about two options. Be overly bitchy for the remainder of the two weeks or just get it over with and be civil. And while she was sure the bitch option probably could have scored her some dominance points, she decided to the go with the civil option. Mainly because she was too bloody tired to be a hazard to his sanity at the moment. Or any other thing that would have any reason to fear her wrath.

The blonde sighed before squatting down to unpack the suitcase. She was getting lazy, sleeping in and now procrastinating about unpacking. At this rate she'd be a blob of fat by next winter, too. She put them away before flopping back on the bed.

She really didn't know what to do with herself. She was sure if she tried to work that high tech whatever prototype TV or whatever the hell it was she'd most likely set off three alarms or something, so that was a no-no. There wasn't any reading material in the room that could actually be qualified as reading material either. She had flipped some of the magazines and she was more than confident to say it had been a waste of three minutes of her life.

Even when on three hour car rides with nothing to do, she could honestly say she had never been so bloody bored in her life. She rolled over and looked at the clock before groaning. 5 minutes. Dear God. She hated when things just seemed to drag on.

She got up with a sigh, trying to find her shoes. God only knew where she had kicked them off the night before. After a minute or so of scrounging around she found the first, then proceeded to trip over the second. Her luck was impeccable.

One minute. She waited on the edge of the bed, absentmindedly straightening out her skirt. A

Ten minutes. The blonde sighed, making the bed, eyes still fixed on the clock.

Half an hour. Her eye was starting to twitch. Be ready, he says. Be ready to wait was more like it. He was probably off with some famous movie producer or something doing lunch. Argh. She crossed her arms and flopped down on the bed.

The second she had begun to settle, she heard various voices out in the hall. She rolled over on her stomach angrily. Would it kill people to be quiet in the hallways? Other people were rooming her too.

She held back a growl when it began to get louder. What was going on out there? Some sort of tribal festival where the sacrificed something and everyone had to chant? Jeez. It was when the voices sounded like they were suspiciously close her room, she got really annoyed.

Someone was going down. And it wasn't going to be her. Getting stood up was one thing, getting stood up and having to listen to stupid teenagers in the hallway was another. She got up, and flung the door open, ready to raise hell only to come face to face to her husband.

"Squa-"

He quickly grabbed her arm and yanked her back in the hotel room.

"What's going on out there?" She asked, crossing her arms.

The brunette sighed, debating if he was needed to bolt the door shut or not. "Girls."

"…Girls?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "So the reason you're late, and that there are most likely two hundred _loud_ people in the hallway is girls." That wasn't the million door answer at all. That was more like the sleep on the couch for a week answer.

He was currently trying to catch this breath, his back still firmly planted against the door in case some was going to try to kick it down. "Fan girls." He panted. "Ran all the way here."

"And hotel security let them in?"

"Mobbed him."

The woman stared in disbelief. "They mobbed the security guard?"

"Yeah."

"A fully professional security guard." She said, disbelieving.

"Yeah."

"…Where is he now?"

"Hospital."

The woman massaged her temple. "I'm surprised you got here in one piece."

"I didn't." He proceeded to point to his shirt which was missing a good chunk of fabric near the bottom. He groaned when there was a sudden pounding on the door. "Dammit." They found him.

He had heard the rumours about Trabia, but really. He hadn't expected this in a million years. He sighed. There was really no way to get out of this. He had to go out and tame the beasts. All two hundred of them. And hopefully not get molested. The brunette checked the locks on the door before changing his shirt and returning to the door.

His wife stared at him like he was going to go try and pet shark. "…You're going out there?"

"Yeah. There's an message at reception I have to get." He made a quick prayer before opening the door. The blonde stared at the door as screams were heard. It was like watching a lamb go off to slaughter.

She debated a minute before going to open the door. Except it wouldn't open. She could only assume there was so many people in the hallway, someone was jammed up against it. She sighed before pushing against it. Nothing. She then tried yelling a warning through the door. Nothing. The blonde growled, frustrated before finally kicking the door open.

A mass of girls glared at her, and suddenly the situation wasn't looking so good. She sighed, quickly trying to get through the crowd. Unfortunately, unlike she suspected, they weren't half an IQ point twits, and knew she was tying to butt. Luckily, she didn't think they knew who she was yet.

This was going to make things a bit difficult.

She stared the nearest ones down, and squeezed her way though, yelling warnings for people to get out of her way. If anyone was going rape her husband dammit, it was going to be her. There was a strategic plan to this. It was coordinated. The most obsessive ones were at the front, the lesser ones were at the back. Which meant, if she lucky she might be able to get a quarter of the way without getting ripped to shreds.

Eventually things were going to get rough. And she knew somewhere along the line she was probably going to get at least some sort of threat whether it be physical or verbal thrown at her. But she had an advantage. Jetlag.

Not that she had to worry about it just yet, because currently she was trying to pull a thin-as-paper manoeuvre as she was literally pressed up against the wall like paper trying to get past them. Slowly, she inched her way past them so she could eventually see the start of the die hard fans.

T-shirts and dolls, and every probable Squall merchandise known to man was in her view.

And quite frankly, she felt a bit intimidated. She took a quickly breath before continuing. She could see him now, with a few women practically draped over her. She vaguely felt her eye twitch. Really. That was a bit much. She sighed, just a bit further and she could get him away from all the amazons.

Almost there -

"No butting!" The girl in front of her screeched, whirling around at her.

Oh crap. Here was the leader.

The blonde stared at the woman dumbstruck.

"Go to the back of the line, lady."

Lady? Did jet lag really do that much to her? They couldn't even recognize her? She didn't know whether to be relieved or insulted. "Go on." The woman said, pointing to back.

The blonde sighed. He doubted he could see her from here. She was still behind the legion of top star fans.

"NO BUTTING." Squall sighed, hearing the commotion. It wasn't like they were lining up for anything. It was just like they were his own personal stalkers that had to follow him. He shook the fans off him, forcing a smile, telling them he was busy and he would see them later. Why did important messages never come when it was convenient?

She was convinced this won stupidest idea EVER. Because, well, it really did. Now she was crammed between this ready to punch her lights out woman and a wall. And neither was going to move anytime soon. She sighed. "I'm just trying to get reception."

The woman fixed her with a glare. "Sure you are."

Argh. This wasn't going to go smoothly. "You know, there's a piece of his shirt around here somewhere."

The woman flung her self to the side to look, "Where!" The blonde sighed, taking the opportunity to get past her, slipping past the rest as they were looking at well.

"Squall!" She yelled loudly, spotting him by the elevator. The brunette whipped around at the mention of his name.

"There isn't a piece of his shirt!" The leader muttered angrily, turning around. "What? How did she get over there!"

Squall stared at the blonde like she had just jumped the Grand Canyon with ease. "What -"

She sighed exasperatedly. "Shut up." And with that she took him by the collar and kissed him.

The uproar in the hallway was probably enough to make her need a hearing aid at the age of thirty, but she it was worth it. The elevator door chimed and they broke apart, scrambling to get it in. The blonde hit the elevator door, holding in a smug smirk as the mob rushed towards the door only to have it close.

Squall sighed, hitting the ground floor before turning to her. "…What was that about?"

She held a smile back leaning against the elevator door. "I was bored."

"…So you decided to charge a group of two hundred girls." He finished dryly.

"I suppose so."

"…You're crazy."

The blonde sighed. "People do crazy things when they're in-"

The elevator door opened to about a hundred fan girls, and the blonde stared dumbstruck for a moment. "…about to get mobbed."

He sighed. "Run."

She almost smirked. Well, she sure as hell wasn't going to walk.

Argh. Okay, it's like, four am in the morning. I'm dead, and my eyes hurt. Don't abuse me if the spelling it wrong or whatever. Go take it out on the nearest pillow. Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter. It was the pain in the you know where you write. Especially when one's cat has a habit of walking across and/or sitting on the keyboard.

PS: Happy belated birthday to Quistis :D, and happy Halloween & Thanksgiving!


	23. Grandmothers

He spent the rest of his weekend (which was only one day but none the less) sneaking around like he was on a hit list. Literally. Because he was fairly sure women had him on their to bed list, and their respective partners had him on their hit list. He was a wanted man in more than one way. And conveniently, never in the way he wanted.

They hadn't kissed since the mod incident. Which was only about a day. But still. For a man that was supposedly supposed to be in the perfect marriage, only getting kissed when one was in a rock and hard place really wasn't comforting. For a man in love, it was even less comforting. At this rate, it looked like he was going to have a better chance confessing and being told they loved him too by a brick wall rather than his wife. And brick walls didn't bloody talk.

He sighed, staring at the clock. Midnight, and he was still wide awake. Jetlag still managed to screw him over no matter where he went. It was like math equation. Squall + Travelling Jetlag x Infinity. He sighed again before getting up and walking over to the window. Snow. Snow EVERYWHERE. Right. That would explain why he was freezing.

This sucked. Freezing and wide awake. He was not going to be a happy camper for the trip back to Balamb tomorrow. The only thing that would make this worse would be some random fan girl stalking him.

He could only sigh when a rocks started hitting the window. He could only imagine how many of them were under his balcony. The brunette shook his head before running his fingers through his hair.

Screw it. He was going back to bed.

"Squall?"

He sighed, staring blearily at the bed. "Yeah?" So much for him being the only one not asleep. Fully asleep at least.

"You didn't bother to reserve a hotel, did you?"

The brunette blinked, trying to stifle a yawn. "Why?"

"I thought we could stay with my parents."

He knew then, for sure, he was fully awake.

o o o

He wasn't sure if he was half awake or dreaming. Either way, it was only of hell of a rocky road they were on since he kept hitting his head against the window every five seconds. It wad giving him a headache. Oh well. Maybe it gave him an excuse to skip dinner or something. Or just stay in the guest room the whole time.

Meeting the parents was always weird to him. Meeting the parents and saying you were probably going to crash there for a week, well. That'd be just a little more than awkward.

Just a bit. Sarcastically speaking of course.

And crashing there wasn't even his idea either. He just got dragged along for the ride this time. Literally. Now he was just stuck in the back seat with no say in anything, listening to limo twerp and his wife carry on a rather boring conversation. And he meant really, really damn boring. He sighed, looking out the window. Not that it would help him get his bearing, since he could have more directional sense in a blizzard rather than here.

He sighed, leaning back. It wasn't even like he had a bloody view. Trees, trees, everywhere.

Argh. He was almost starting hate trees. He had been staring at trees for three hours so far.

Watching paint drying was starting to look good. Real good. But he'd rather be here than in the those god awful board meetings. Even if it meant being bombarded by fans like Trabia.

He suppressed a shudder. He never knew being mobbed by women would be so awful.

"Sir, we're here."

Squall sat up immediately. ThankyouGod. He was so bored he was almost going to take up counting trees as a hobby. He opened the car door with a sigh, debating on whether or not to kick the bags to the door or actually carry them. It seemed like such a hassle.

After a moment of debating he finally picked up the bags and made his way the door, wisely standing a bit to the left of it. He didn't want to be part of the gravel when her parents heard the knocking. He watched silently as she knocked, still debating whether to move more to the left or not.

It was as her mother flung the door open he realized yes, dammit - he did want to be more to the left. He barely had time to fling himself to the side in an effort to make sure he wasn't going to be the next new lawn decoration. He was just lucky Irvine made him do running drills to be prepared when things were going to go from bad to downright run-like-your-bloody-life-depended-on-it.

This was one of those times, and currently had his aim set on the set of bushes in the garden. It may not have been the most hiding friendly spot of the place but it would probably get him out of the spotlight. "Squall? You're here too?"

Dammit. Should have gone for the bushes. He brushed his fingers through this hair before moving back into the doorframe. "Yeah. Nice to see you again."

Well, if that wasn't the biggest lie of the century he frankly didn't know what was. "You didn't even tell us you were coming! I don't have anything prepared." He was perfectly fine with eating out. And by eating out he meant away AWAY from the house. Of course, given his position and the status of three against one, he wasn't about to voice his opinions. He wasn't crazy.

"Are you coming in?"

The brunette looked up to see everyone the door except for him. He sighed, smoothing back his hair before entering.

Let the fun begin. He just hoped it didn't end with any bodily or verbal harm against him. And at this rate, it looked this entire situation was just screaming he was gonna get it.

Because when they had said there was nothing prepared, there was a reason for it.

Particularly, a five women reason. A three aunts, one family friend and one grandmother reason.

He cursed his luck. Just his luck to conveniently walk into the girl's night talk. God only knew what women talked about.

Probably him. He knew her father wasn't here for a reason. The brunette held back a grimace before stepping forward vaguely wondering if it would be too late to call and ask her father if he wanted to do some son in law and father bonding. It was hard to tell which would be worse, seven females or her father.

"Come sit down, boy."

He was guessing to woman that looked the human form of a crab apple was her grandmother. He took a seat beside her, hoping whatever luck he had would hold through. Not that he had much luck he decided, when her mother decided to introduce people and he had subconsciously tuned the entire thing out.

Now, he was screwed. And his wife conveniently was help getting tea or something ready with her mother. He was alone with five women who looked like he was the next unlucky victim in their radius. Which technically, he was.

"So you're the new addition, hmm?"

He nodded, trying not to say whatever. Some introduction this was.

The elderly woman turned to the rest of the women. "Well?"

"Handsome."

"Good taste in clothes."

"Quiet."

"Rich.

The brunette twitched. Welcome to the family, alright. He was just lucky he didn't run into them during the wedding. He might not have made it this far. It was like a judging contest.

One of the aunts sighed, looking up from her magazine. "I don't know. I've heard a lot from her mother about him. But I think we should ask him a few questions of our own."

Crap.

He took a deep breath. It couldn't be any worse than math drills in high school.

The grandmother got out a note pad and picked up a pen. "Have you slept with my Granddaughter?"

Okay. Yes, yes it could.

o o o

"Anyways, your grandmother decided to pop in with your aunts without any notice like usual. I would have told you if you called, but someone didn't call so…" The older blonde trailed off, checking out the cream supply in the fridge. "Are you sure you should leave them in there alone? You know how they love to get down and personal with any new men."

There was a reason there wasn't any potential love interest until now, and that was it. Quistis sighed, "He'll be fine. I'm sure he's handled worse."

o o o

Officially, this was the most embarrassing so called introduction he had been involved in. Ever.

"I haven't been married before." Thankyouverymuch.

A tick on the sheet.

"Any side relationships?"

He sighed. "No." They might as well pull his rap sheet while they were at it.

"Size?"

"What?" He hadn't expected that question.

The woman rolled her eyes. "The Square feet of your house."

Oh. He sighed, before making up answer. He really didn't know these things.

The other aunt sighed, looking up from her note pad. "You never answered the first time. Have you slept with her?"

The brunette felt like rolling his eyes. If he said yes, would he get a perfect 10 or fail? Why wasn't there any distractions when he needed them? If he said no, he'd probably get accused of an affair, if he said yes, there was probably a chance of him getting beat to death by purses and stilettos. Either way, the choices weren't looking good.

And he had the feeling asking if she was a crazy Amazon in her past life wasn't going to help the situation.

o o o

"I have a feeling things are going bad in there." Her mother admitted, putting the tea on tray.

The blonde sighed. "You're just over worrying."

"You didn't see her interrogate your cousins."

The woman twitched. "I'm sure it's fine."

There was a pause.

"…But maybe we should go check."

"I think so."

The two women sighed before gathering up other tea and food, hopefully stopping a suicide before it happened.

There was a distinct awkward silence when they entered the room.

"Mom, how are you?" Mrs. Trepe asked, handing out the tea.

The elderly woman sighed, as the two women sat down. "I was just asking him if he had slept with your daughter."

Quistis nearly dropped her cup and her mother looked liked someone had just ran over the family cat.

"These things are important you know. Too much is too scandalous, but too little leaves both parties open to affairs, the perfect amount-"

"Mom, do you want some tea?"

"No dear, I was just saying that-"

The blonde sighed, massaging her temple.

"Are you sure you don't want some tea?"

"No. I don't. Now if you just listen-"

"I think you want some tea-"

"I've slept with him. Yesterday, and last Wednesday and Tuesday."

There a long silence, as everyone looked towards the youngest woman in the room.

Squall currently had his hand to his forehead. When would this end?

"I see. That's normal then."

The brunette sighed, looking at the tea cup wondering if there was anyway he could possibly drown himself in in. Maybe he had a better option of trying to choke on a brownie. At least those would taste good.

The grandmother sighed, putting her hands in her lap. "I suppose we've come to a conclusion then."

The whole room turned towards her, Squall half expecting her to bring up some elaborate rating device. Instead she turned up a piece of note pad paper. DELICIOUS.

Oh dear God.

"We think the tea is delicious."

Squall was really to throw himself out the window.

"And we suppose he will do. But if you had just taken our advice and let her marry that Fredrick fellow though-"

The window was really looking good.

"We'd probably have grandchildren by now, you know. You can't count on your cousins to carry on the family line. You can't count on Biggs for anything. That poor boy can't count to two. Or Wedge for that matter. Mind you they are third cousins, luckily this line is fine, but dear."

The window was beckoning him.

"And the ovaries in this family are fine. So as they say, get to it."

The blonde dropped her half eaten biscuit, mortified. She hadn't been expecting that.

Squall stared blankly at the woman as if she had just grown another head.

And the window was screaming, '_Dammit, jump out of me!_'

o o o

"I can't believe she said all those things." The blonde clearing off the table. Everyone had left a few minutes ago, her poor mother being the chauffeur.

He couldn't either. Apparently boldness ran in the family. Instead he shrugged. "It's fine." His mind told him that was a total lie. If he was alright with his Grandmother in law telling them to get it on, there would be something wrong with him.

Well, hey. At least he got approval. He sighed, shaking the thought out of his head. Not good.

"The whole family isn't like this." She said suddenly, as if it would ease the tension.

That was a relief. Having the whole family egging him on wasn't a flattering notion. "Yeah."

"Not that I wouldn't mind having children."

Silence.

"I mean, if you wanted to. Not that it's set in stone just because my Grandmother said so, or that everyone wants us to. Or because-"

Yeah. She was rambling. He barely kept a smile off his face. It was amusing watching someone who looked so dignified rambling on about children.

"Boy or girl?"

She stopped in mid-sentence, probably forgetting what she was going on about. "What?"

He sighed. "What do you want? A boy or girl?"

The blonde paused a moment, before smiling. "It doesn't matter. As long as it's healthy."

The typical reply. She sighed before continuing cleaning. "Do you want children?"

He took a moment to think about it. "…Yeah."

"I can picture you as a father."

Silence.

"Yeah?" He asked quietly.

She smiled getting up from crouching position, and sat on the table. "Yeah. Can you?"

"Picture a mother? Yeah."

"I was going to ask if you pictured yourself as father." She took his hand. "But that answer is good, too. Do I know her?"

He held back a smirk. Flirt.

"Yeah."

"Is she close?"

"Yeah."

The blonde raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you going to kiss her?"

He leaned forward. "…Yeah." She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down to the table when he did. Neither heard the door open.

"I was just going to get my purse-"

The couple pulled apart only to hit their heads together. He groaned, putting a hand to his forehead as she ignored the blow altogether looking al but mortified at her Grandmother.

The grandmother waved at them. "Don't mind at me. I'm just leaving. Continue." She walked over to the out the door with her purse in hand.

The blonde sighed, getting up. That was awkward. "Sorry."

He shrugged. "It happens." More than usual to them, but whatever.

"You know, I think that…" She trailed off, with a small smile.

"What?"

"That I-"

The door opened again, her Grandmother popping her head in the door. "You know dear, I was thinking I should offer some advice and tell you to put down some pillows on the table first. But then I thought, you're a grown woman, you probably know these things. Oh dear, it looks like your mother is trying to tell me something." She stuck her head out the door. "What is it, dear? I can't hear you."

Squall absentmindedly looked out the window. She was obviously yelling '_Get back in the car, you old bat!_' but he decided not to point that out.

"I think she wants me to go back. Goodbye dears." With a wave of a the hand, the excentric woman set off back to the car.

Silence.

"What you were saying?"

She sighed. "I was saying that I think that woman is insane."

He was inclined to agree.

o o o

Hah. I had fun with this chapter. Sorry for the delay. Art is a killer. Seven oil paintings due plus all my other courses. Yay. I might have a shot up sometime soon too. Look for that if it ever premieres. And review! Make my day. Art is killing me. D:


	24. Bartenders

It was official, her family made his look sane. And it took a lot to make his father look like he had a good one IQ point never mind sane.

He shuddered.

Dear God. The family Gods had it in for him. Seriously.

The brunette stared at the wall stupidly. At least that long stupid, talk had gotten had somewhere and gotten him to three conclusions: a) The family was crazy. Seriously crazy b) She wanted children. Sometime. Which concluded to c) that he might just have a chance of not getting flat out rejected if he every did decide to confess anytime soon. 

Maybe he have a chance at beating a brick wall's romance life after all. Who knows.

He sighed, leaning back in his chair. Yeah. Maybe he had a chance.

And at this rate it didn't look like it was going to happen anytime soon.

Not with the eerie silence and the insane paranoia that her Grandmother was going to pop out of the closet or something.

God, that woman was creepy.

o o o

It was two in the afternoon and the coffee cup was looking like very nice pillow. Or the table. Actually, anything would probably do at this rate. Squall stared the so called family blearily.

It was just too damn early for this. Even if it was two in the afternoon.

"Your Grandmother just wouldn't leave the car. It took me forever to convince her not to come back for lunch. She seems pretty taken with Squall."

Squall nodded, not listening what so ever. 

"She'll be back today though. She insisted on coming back for dinner, I at least convinced to stay at home until dinner time though. So if you're smart you'll go to one of the café's downtown for dinner." Her mother sighed, picking at her toast. "I wish she wasn't so nosey. It drives everyone in the family crazy." A nod. She turned to Squall. "You look tired."

The brunette looked up. She'd be tired if she had nightmares about old Grannies popping out from underneath the bed and interrogating her too. "…I'm fine."

That coffee cup was still looking pretty cozy though.

"Anyways, I'll be going out to pick up your Grandmother in a few minutes." The older blonde sighed, collecting the plates. "No one else will do it." She muttered under her breath before walking off to the kitchen.

Quistis sighed, brushing her bangs out of her face. "You didn't sleep at all during the flight here, did you?"

He shook his head. "No." He could still see the eerie face of the elderly woman in his head. He leaned back in his chair, watching fix her hair. "You?" 

The blonde smiled. "Surprisingly well."

At least one of them would be awake today. He forced a smile so he wouldn't like a dumbstruck, sleep deprived moron.

"Do you want to go out for dinner later?"

He shrugged. "Yeah."

"Good. I wasn't going to take no for an answer, anyways."

The author raised an eyebrow at her and she laughed before leaning close to him. "Well, I wasn't." She pulled back, taking the plates with her.

He groaned.

It totally wasn't fair. Women could to that all they wanted, and men if tried that suddenly they were big, bad guys.

Not fair at all.

He sighed before getting up, and following her over to the kitchen. "Want help?" He was probably going to get volunteered anyways, might as well and volunteer and make himself look good.

Her mother turned to him with a smile. "Sure. You can take over for me." She passed threw him the dish towel before grabbing the car keys from the table. "I'm off to go pick up Mother. I'll be back soon." She stretched before she reached the door. "Try not to break anything, okay?" 

The door shut as she left, and the blonde turned to him with a quirked eyebrow. "Think you can keep up with me?"

Flirt. 

He said nothing, putting on a poker face as he reached to dry the plate. Could he keep up? Hah. He dried it and waited expectedly for the next one. She continued to wash them, occasionally flicking water his way.

The brunette sighed flatly, as she 'accidentally' let her hand slip resulting in him getting a good splash of water in his face.

Really. He was being a good sport. Until now. He waited silently until she went to put away the dishes before getting into position, not even sure why he was making such a detailed plan of attack in his head. The brunette watched her walk back to the sink before flicking water back at her. She raised an eyebrow at him after the initial 'Oh no, you didn't' look, and he barely held back a smirk.

She smiled to herself waiting until he had finished the drying the last dish before stealing his towel. "I'm impressed."

He eyed the towel in her hand hoping she wasn't going to use it as revenge. He'd had enough of dish towel fights to last him a life time. Those things hurt. He lazily turned his gaze back to her as she put towel back and stared out the window. Thank God.

The blonde sighed before turning to him. "Squall?"

"Yeah?"

"Yesterday, before my Grandmother came in-"

He sighed. "Which time?" 

"The second. When you asked me what I was saying before that, I lied." She sighed. "I was meant to say-"

The door opened and the blonde leaned her head against the fridge. She had such impeccable timing.

"What?" He asked, his lips against her ear.

"Nothing." She forced a smile before going to greet her family. He stared at her retreating form before sighing.

o o o 

The restaurant was tiny, but at this rate he'd rather be crammed in a box with a hobo rather with her Grandmother. He sighed, picking at his food absentmindedly. Somehow walking around for a few hours just made him lose his appetite. He wasn't quite sure how that worked either.

Finally deciding he had officially killed whatever meat on his plate again, he quit with a sigh. He glanced up only to see her staring a few tables over. The brunette followed her line of gaze over to a few students at a corner table before back to her again.

The blonde sighed to herself before looking back at him. "Hey." 

"Hey."

She tilted her head to the side with a smile. "Not hungry?"

He shrugged. "Not really." He eyed the corner table again for a moment before looking back at his plate. "Are you done?"

"Yes." She watched him pull out his wallet before smiling. "Squall?" He looked up at her silently. "You need to pay at the front."

He cleared his throat, suddenly feeling stupid. "Yeah." He stood up and pushed the chair in. "I'll be back."

The man at the front grinned at him. "You know Quistis?"

He sighed, digging through his wallet. "Yeah."

"Lovely girl. She deserves better."

Squall looked up. "…What?"

"Eh? You haven't heard? She got married to some rich snob. Poor thing. She reminds us all of a little caged bird, don't you think? Well, I mean everyone but her dear old parents. They always try to convince us that hubby of hers is a good guy. Heh. We all know better. He's always taken her around to different places. She's never here in Balamb anymore. …She looks so sad, don't ya think?"

He took a glance at her and felt his heart drop. He could see the forced smile she had, her eyes still on the table in the corner.

…How could have he not have seen it before?

"The guy, he must not know. She's always loved it here. I talked to her a few months ago, you know? She always said her life was here. Don't know what changed her mind. She loved her job. Speaking of which, you know those guys in the corner? They're her old students. Hah. Old jocks, look at 'em. Over to see her. What Romeos."

He watched silently as the students talked to her, watching as she laughed at their joked, waving off their bad pick up lines.

"Pst, don't tell anyone? But see the one in the middle? Cid's trying to get him to offer her old job back."

Squall stopped flipping through his wallet for a moment, watching her before turning back to the man and handing him the money.

"Aw, thanks Lad. You're a good man. You'd be good to her." The man patted the money happily before actually looking it over. "Hey- what, there's like 200 here. Oi, hey! Come get your money-"

Squall walked back to the table slowly watching the conversation come to abrupt start as he came close. "I'm going."

The blonde nodded, moving to stand up. He sighed, placing a hand on a shoulder. "I'll take a taxi. Take the car." 

She stared at him, confused. "What-"

"I'll see you at home."

"Squall…" She sighed as he continued walking, not even bothering to turn around.

The bartender stared at the scene. "…Bloody hell. I think that was 'im."

Quistis sighed, after the student finished trying to convince her. "I'm sorry, I can't take the job."

The student groaned. "Come on, Instructor. Why not? You always said you liked it here."

The blonde shook her head. "I'm married."

"Psh. You're not gonna take it just because you're married?"

She smiled, shaking her head. "…I love him."

o o o 

Squall looked out the window silently.

"Where's the Missy?"

He sighed, his hand against the window. "…Gone."

_The bartender sighed, handing him the bill. "What a gal."_

Squall nodded. "She wouldn't stay unless he stayed."

"Are you kiddin'? That girl's the most loyal thing I've seen. She's like a sheepdog or something."

Squall shot the man a dirty look. "…If she wasn't married… she'd stay, right?"

"Aw hell yeah. I can't picture her in the city or anything. But c'mon, let's face it. That ol' stupid husband of hers isn't going to give her up anytime soon. I mean, look at her."

The brunette did. "…She's sad."

"Yeah. She's like the flowers. Bloomin' in the country, withering in the city. She's got a life here, don't know what's got with that guy. I can't see him givin' her a life she'd like. You know?"

Squall sighed. "Yeah. I know." 

o o o

It was dark when she got home. She sighed, kicking off her shoes as she got in the door before walking over to her room. "Squall?"

She didn't get an answer. Maybe he was asleep. The blonde sighed before actually entering the room. She raised an eyebrow at the state of her room. It looked like a hurricane had just gone through. Clothes and bags strewn about everywhere and a tired looking Squall in the middle.

"Quistis?"

She turned towards the sound of her voice. "What's going on in here?" She asked with a laugh. "It looks like Zell's room." She sighed, before sitting down. "Mom? Where's Squall?"

The older blonde sighed. "He said something about Deling and a sudden meeting. I guess he's renting a hotel room there."

Quistis looked down. "Did he give a number?"

Her mother shook her head. "Do you want help looking up numbers? Maybe he thought you knew were he was going to stay."

"No, it's alright. Go to bed." She forced a smile. "I'm sure he'll call."

"You sure?" She nodded, watching the other woman leave before looking through the phonebook.

Three hours later, and what seemed like forty million calls she finally found the right number. 

"_Hello?" _

"…Squall?" She asked quietly. "Why are you in Deling? Why didn't you tell me?" 

There was silence on the other line. "…_.Because I want a divorce."_

o o o 

OMG, plot twist. It seems random, but it's been planned from the start. And it'll be explained in the next chapter too. One surprise down, one more to go. :D Thanks for all the reviews everyone! It makes me write faster :D And what, an update in less than a week? Wow. I feel proud.

PS: Eight more chapters left? Anyone sad?


	25. Timeless

She didn't believe him. She had listened to the dial tone long after he had hung up on her before actually turning the phone off and lying down. It was all so fast. What kind of person went from saying they wanted children to wanting a divorce? She stared blankly at the phone as if it would give her some sort of explanation. It didn't make any sense.

"Everything okay in there?"

The blonde sighed to herself; right now her option was lying, or hey, lying. Because frankly, she was sure saying something like 'Everything's fine, except for well, you know. He kind of wants a divorce.' wouldn't go over well. In fact, she was sure if she said that, one if not both parents would probably  
hit the ground, passed out. "Yes. It's fine… He's just going to stay in Deling for a while."

Move to the side, the lightening is going to hit any second now. "Will you be going to?"

"…I don't think so." She forced a smile. "I'll see him later."

Yeah. When you have to go to the divorce lawyer.

"I see. Goodnight then, honey." She shut her eyes when she head the door close, the conversation replaying in her head. He couldn't be serious. This couldn't be happening. People didn't go saying they wanted kids in the morning and then go and say they want a divorce in the afternoon. It just didn't make any sense. And when she called his house no one had any other ideas either. It was like someone had swapped personalities with him. It was crazy.

"_What?" She finally asked. _

"…I want a divorce."

"What? Why?"

There was sigh on the other line. "This isn't going to go anywhere." There was a pause. "I don't love you, Quistis."

The blonde was silent, clutching the phone. "I-"

"Go back to your old life." 

There was a click, and she knew he had hung up. She bit her lip.

I don't love you, Quistis. 

…Why did it hurt so much?

o o o

Officially, this sucked.

Squall stared out the window blankly. Was this kind of like withdrawal? Because this felt pretty bad. Well, actually that was the understatement of the year. Seriously. He sighed, putting his laptop bag on the near by table before sitting back down on the bed. He was starting to see why people didn't do this often, or why he hadn't bothered falling in love until now.

Love was a bitch. Get attached to someone and look was happens. Really. There should be another line to the whole if you love someone let them go thing. And it consists of: only do it if you have a lot of alcohol and another potential love interest waiting to fall into your arms.

Possibly both. And conveniently, he had neither. Awesome, he knew. He sighed, running his fingers though this hair. She'd be happier this way. She'd get job and get married to some nice guy. Preferably, one that didn't pull at the angst and no talking sessions like him. 

That's what he told himself at least.

The brunette snapped out of this self angsting session when the annoying ring tone went off. Really. He had to get Selphie and Rinoa to stop meddling around with his cellphone. First ducky wallpapers and now this. He glared at the cellphone a moment before picking it up.

"Hello?"   
_  
"Squall? Man, I've been trying to reach you for like, ever. The hotel phones don't work or something?"  
_  
The author sighed. "I disconnected the phone line." To avoid talking to you, about matters like these. Now go hang up. Thanks.  
_  
"…You what? Isn't that like, illegal?" _He shrugged. "_Anyways, what's up with your lady? Selphie said she called the house asking if something was up with you." _

"…I told her I wanted a divorce."

The other line was silent. "_You what?" _

"I told her I didn't love her."

There was a pause. "_You just like, screwed yourself over, man." _

Oh, he knew_. "But c'mon. You obviously love her." _

Squall kept silent. "_You haven't told her, have you? What are you doing? Are you like, crazy?" _

"They offered her a job."

There was an exasperated sigh on the other line. "_So?" _

"…I let her go."  
_  
"In more ways then one." _The other man muttered under his breath. "_Did you ever think that she might, like, be happy with you?" _

"She's not."

"_How do you know? 'Cause like, Selphie told me-" _

"Because I know!" Squall snapped, irritated.  
_  
"Squall-" _

The author turned his phone off, angrily. Irvine didn't know anything. 

Irvine sighed, listening to the dial tone on his phone. "…She's in love with you."

o o o

She hadn't slept all night. The whole divorce thing was a just a bit unsettling.

You know, just a bit.

So her she was, in her mother's car: sleep deprived, confused and ready to kill for a coffee. Or a good explanation. Probably whatever came first.

But first thing was first, she was getting to the bottom of this. Even if it meant going all the way to Deling and giving him the PSM lecture. Because even if he didn't care, she woman. And supposedly, if she going by the fan's opinion, she had to. But that was beside the point. That and frankly, she couldn't think of any other explanation other than the fact she was in love with him.

She sighed, hopefully this wouldn't be the newest big rumour. Even though she could see it clearly did have potential. What better way to make the head lines other than 'Huge Divorce Scandal'. Yeah. She could see it now. Wouldn't that give her parents the heart attack of their life, that and 'Oh right. And we never quite dated either. See, a funny thing happened on the way back from the bar…'

Why was the car ride to the station taking so long? She sighed, checking the dash board quickly. 60km, well she wasn't going like snail, either. That didn't explain it. The blonde looked up again only to slam the brakes.

"I need to talk to you!" The bartender said, calmly.

She stared at the man incredulously. Wasn't there safer ways to get someone's attention, you know, like _not _running in front of someone's car while they're driving? "What?" She finally breathed, getting the mind to put the car in park and roll the window down. "You could have gotten us both killed!"

The man shrugged. "I've done it before." The woman continued staring at his incredulously. She didn't want to know what his hobbies consisted of. "Look, that guy that was in here yesterday, was it your hubby?"

"What?"

"Yesterday, when you came to the diner wit' that guy. You know, guy wearin' the fancy suit."

"Yes, but what does this have to do with you running out in front of my car-"

The bartended sighed, sheepishly. "Well, I said some things I shouldn't have. I said everyone 'ere didn't like him. That we all thought you could do better. And he uh, left because he thought you were happier without 'im. I told him the students at your table were going to offer you your job back. I guess 'e thought you wouldn't take it unless you got divorced."

She stared at the man for a moment before sighing, putting her hand back on the wheel. That sounded just like him. Men. Thinking they're all high and mighty trying to pull the knightly act and give away the women. Why didn't they realize half the time they wanted to stay? "Idiot!"

The man cough nervously. He just hoped she wasn't as scary as he had heard.

"Not you." He looked relieved. "Can you move though, please?"

The man moved to the side, "You know… everyone here thought 'e was just some rich jerk that didn't care about you. …We were wrong."

The blonde nodded, with a smile. "You were. Now, can I borrow your phone?"

o o o 

Do or die. Sink or swim. Die or get killed by Squall - wait. Irvine sighed, pacing around the hotel lobby. This was either going to be the death of him or get his name of the black list for years to come.

He just hoped she was actually going to show up. Or else he had think of some pretty good excuse as to why he had been waiting in the lobby for almost an hour straight. He pulled his cowboy hat over his brow, he didn't care what they said. It was hot, and he totally knew it.

That, and a suit of armour to represent a knight was too heavy and hot. And besides, knights were so last year.

Finally, he spotted his target. He pulled the hat off and began waving, knowing he was getting stares right, left and centre. "Why hello, missy. What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?"

The woman smiled, pushing his hat back down onto this face. "The same reason you are."

The cowboy raised an eyebrow. "Nope, I don't think so, doll. I'm not here to get my husband back." He pushed his hat back up again. "Say, do I get a kiss for helping you out?" 

The blonde pretended to ponder for a moment. "No. But I'm sure if you asked Selphie-"

"Irvine Kinneas? We got a hold of the room. Please come to font desk."

The brunette sighed. "Wish me luck, doll."

He just hoped his hat was as lucky as he hoped it was.

o o o

He was in all out brood mode. In fact, there probably should have been a "BROODING. DO NOT DISTURB." sign in the front in his door. Irvine's whole speech on 'love for cold hearted, love retarded morons' wasn't helping either.

He sighed when the hotel phone rang. Really, the stupid twits for finding out he had disconnecting the phones and reconnecting them. Talk about annoying. He found himself picking it up anyways. 

"Hello?"

"_This is front office. There's someone here to see you. Should I give them the room number?" _

"Who is it?"  
_  
"Irvine Kinneas."  
_  
He sighed. "…Whatever."

"_I'll send them up then." _

The brunette stared at the phone. Whatever was neutral. It wasn't supposed to be yes or no.

Whatever.

He picked himself up and placed his laptop on the table. Here it comes, the four hour lecture, he thought dryly. He'd had the same lecture forty million times already, and it had been on the same topic every bloody time. Love.

The author was deciding whether to fake an illness or not when there was knocking on the door. He sighed, illness was probably out of the option as he doubted he would be able to come up with a believable cough or fever in three seconds. 

Dammit. He opened the door, waiting to see the damn cowboy he had told him to get rid of for years.

Silence met the room. This was going to be awkward.

"…Where's Irvine?" He finally asked.

Quistis sighed. "He had business. He told them to let me instead."

Bugger. The cheeky little bugger. Setting all this up. They must have seen him at the front with Quistis, and considered they were pair. Then called up and told them she was going ahead of him. Maybe the brain dead cowboy was brighter than he looked. Squall stared at the wall before actually looking at her. "What do you want?"

"I want an explanation." 

He sighed. "I told you already."

"You lied. You said you didn't love me, but I heard you."

Oh damn. His mind was running around in circles until finally it ran into a wall. Holycrapshewasn'tsupposedtohearthat. "…I never said that."

Bing. Bing. World's Biggest lie had just been committed. Move away before the lightening hits.

"I know you did. The night before we went to Trabia, you told me." That, and he really was a horrible liar.

"I don't love you. I told you, I want the divorce." He sighed to himself, he really was a horrible liar.

She sighed, shaking her head. "I don't believe you, Squall. The bartender already told me what he said to you. That he said the only reason you're telling me this is because you think I'm better off without you. I know you're lying."

"I still mean it." Okay, really. What do hard about 'I WANT A DIVORCE.' Weren't women supposed to be running off crying by now? Gawd. He didn't understand this it all. It wasn't going along with the '_560 Ways to Dump Women' _hand book at all.

"Mean what?"

"I don't give a damn about you."

He watched her jaw tighten as she looked away. "I came here because I thought you cared. I thought you had changed. Say something. Tell me I'm right."

"I've got a meeting in an hour. Can you leave now?"

She sighed before turning away. "I supposed they're right when they say some people can't change."

He could only watch silently as she left.

If she only knew.

o o o

An hour later, cornered in a small boarding room, between his manager and one cell phone Squall had the distinct feeling he was rather screwed. Yeah. Irvine had seen it all. And he really wasn't going to live it down.

He shifted his look from the manager to Irvine, and back to his phone.

"Tell her." Irvine hissed, waiting for everyone to come back from the break in the meeting. "Tell her you didn't mean what you said or something."

He really couldn't believe it had come down to this. His own bloody manager was trying to get him to confess. …This was horrible. The wannabe cowboy was giving _him_ advice. Dear God. Where had he gone wrong?

"Tell her." The author shot the other man a glare. He heard him the first time.

The inner dilemma in his mind was raging, consisting of about four options. 1) Call her. 2.) Forget about her and get hitched to some random other woman 3.) Chicken out in general or 4.) Actually pay attention to the meeting at hand. Okay, well fine. That last one didn't count. No one listened to these things.

In the end he decided on neither. "No." The other man gave him the classic were-you-born-an-idiot-or-do-you-try-hard? Look.

"What?!" Smooth. Now half the board room was looking in their direction, the author rolled his eyes. As if he wasn't already the center of attention. "Why not?"

"She's... always wanted this." The brunette managed to get out awkwardly. Conversation skills dropped three points, his mind noted. You're talking like you're three years old. He sighed. "If she wants this, she can do it."

"You don't care...?" The other man asked incredulously. "If you don't tell her, she's going to think you really don't care."

He stayed silent. You're going to lose her. She's going to walk away, she's going to take the job. You're letting the only good thing that's ever happened to you go.

If Selphie and Rinoa had been there they would have cooed and related it to be Beauty and the Beast and made some romantic humming. They also would have been fired.

"You're not even going to tell her? Don't you think she deserves to like, know?" Irvine gave him a stern look. "Call her." If you love someone let them go, he reflected. Give them what's best for  
them.

"Look Squall, call her." 

o o o 

"Is this extension 439?" She leaned against the payphone train station.

"_Yes." _

"…Is Headmaster Cid available? Can you tell him Quistis Trepe is calling about the available job?"

"_Of course. He will be with you in a minute. Your call will be placed on hold." _

"Thank you." She sighed listening to the silence. Was this what she really wanted? The blonde stared blankly at the streets as rain started hitting the ground. Dammit. They hadn't even called for rain.  
_  
"Quistis? Is that really you?" _

She forced a smile, pressing her hand against the payphone. There wasn't any reason to stick around any more. She was going to move on.

"Yes." She took a deep breath. "I'd like to take you up on your offer. If it's still available, I want my job back."

o o o

"Call her already."

This was getting old, and fast. Squall hesitated for a moment before shaking his head again.

"Meeting's back in session." Norg announced, striding back into the room; files tucked under his arms.

Irvine cursed. Loudly. The whole room looked up at him, and he cursed again silently before flipping his phone back open.

"Is there a problem Mr. Kinneas?" Norg snapped, looking down at him.

"No." He replied stiffly. 

"Good. Now back to the market charts. Timber is up three percent..."

Once the man had turned his back, Irvine poked him. He shot him a glare. "Text."

"What?" He hissed, trying to fix his attention from the charts back to his manager and back again without being caught.

"Text her."

"I can't."

"_Text _her."

"Do you love her or not?" Irvine hissed.

He did. Despite all the stupid things he had done in his life, everything he had regretted; he was glad he had gotten drunk that one night and got married to her. He was glad her met her. His eyes flickered up to Norg than back to his phone.

I love you.

"No."

o o o 

If it was one thing about Deling she hated, it was the trains. If the stupid train would just come already, she's be able to get back in her nice, warm car. And possibly cry for an hour, but that wasn't the point. Shifting from foot to foot. It had been a bright idea at the time. It really had. It seemed like it was the perfect convenient little jump start. Her old life back in one nice little package, she had her job, she should be happy. Simply convinced herself whatever relationship they had at the time wouldn't have worked.

Now, she was second guessing herself. Big time.

Maybe it was better this way. Maybe it was the whole thing about being with this guy almost a year and not even knowing he cared.

It's not like he would have carried anyway. Being all big and macho and practically yelling at her to take the damn job.

She sighed, crossing her arms in an effort to keep herself warm. Figures she's be the only one who'd be there without fourteen layers of clothing. Stupid trains. If they were just slower she wouldn't be having this inner debate with herself.

Sure they kissed. A lot. Sure, they got along. But... it wouldn't have worked anyways. He was billionaire and she was...well, not a billionaire. Match made in heaven, we know.

She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall. It'd be fine. She'd just get her job back, and get back into her normal life. That he wasn't in. Simple, really. The sound of shuffling got her attention back to the line. But... maybe...

No. He told her to leave. It was final. He didn't want her around.

"Miss?"

She looked up to an old woman standing in front of her. The woman smiled at her, gesturing to a card deck in her hand. "Want to know your fortune?"

The blonde furrowed her eyebrow. "...Fortune?"

The woman nodded, kneeling to the ground and laying out the deck of cards. "Pick three."

Quistis gave a sigh, before pointing to three random cards. It couldn't hurt to humour the old woman. It's not like she had anything else better to do anyways.

The elder of the two women smiled, picking the first over. "The reverse Empress. A suffering Queen." The old woman turned to her. "You're in denial over something. It causes you grief. …Perhaps you just left a loved one?" She turned the next one over. "The Star. A belief that in the end a better tomorrow will come. A devoted trust in a loved one. Someone has put their faith in you and let you go in hopes you will return to them." She smiled. "They love you unconditionally."

Quistis stared at the card silently. Let her go…?

"…_I want a divorce." _

"What? Why?"

There was sigh on the other line. "This isn't going to go anywhere." There was a pause. "I don't love you, Quistis."

The blonde was silent, clutching the phone. "I-"

"Go back to your old life." 

…Had he told her that because he thought that's what she had wanted? The woman shook her head at the thought of it. That's what the bartender had told her. Apparently it wasn't true. She had asked him about it. Nothing. She had wanted her job back. She truly had… but not at the expense of him. She could always find a new job, a new school, but there was only one Squall Leonheart.

"_I don't give a damn about you." _

The blonde bit her lip silently as she turned the next one over. "The Lovers." A grin spread across the old woman's face. "A love that transcends time and doubt. Two people that love each other more than words can express." The woman gathered her cards before looking to the blonde. "You love the one you left behind, don't you?" The train whistle blew as the train came in. "I wonder if you'll still go, though?"

Dammit. The blonde looked from the train to the old woman before closing her eyes.

It was like some sort of epiphany. And it struck her hard.

She couldn't do it. She couldn't go through with it. The blonde shook her head slowly. "…I love him."

The lying little twerp. The stupid, little lying twerp.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

The old woman smiled as the blonde stood there stupidly before turning on her heel and running for the exit. The woman blinked for a moment before cursing. "Forgot to get her to pay." She muttered to herself, absentmindedly looking at the Lover's card again before smirking. "Someone's going to get some tonight."

And with that, she whistled to herself looking for her next potential customer.

o o o

He got home at one in the morning. The room was silent and empty. He hand slid across the empty desk top. She had really taken the job, she had really left. After all, what kind of person stayed around after they're told those things?

But she was better off this way. He knew she was. He was rich and famous, but he knew now money couldn't buy happiness. He couldn't make her happy.

He closed his eyes slowly. Nothing he had ever felt before had had this much of an impact on him. Nothing had hurt this much before. He withdrew his hand using instead to run his finger through his hair. And he could feel his heart breaking.

You stupid, stupid _idiot_. You let her go. He sat down on the bed slowly. What would he do now? She was gone. He'd never see her again. His throat hurt. And he wanted to get smashed or something stupid to take his mind off the sudden turn of events.

He loved her. He really did. And now, he was alone. His mind vaguely told him that was one of the stupidest observations he had ever come to. And he didn't care.

He didn't care that the radio was still on, or that the media would be all over this in the morning. He didn't care when the door opened.

But he cared when the sound of suitcases being plopped on the floor reached his ears. His eyes snapped open and whipped his head up to the sound.

"I couldn't do it. I couldn't get on the train."

He had never seen anyone look so exhausted, pissed off or ragged looking in his entire life. He had never seen anyone look more beautiful. Or soaked to the bone.

"I took the job. But by the time I got to the train station I realized I couldn't do it." 

If he hadn't been so surprised and shocked he would have probably promised he would go to church everyday of his life after this since he was so thankful.

She took a deep breath. "I love you."

He sat there like an idiot. He hadn't been excepting that. At all. What so ever.

It was one the scenes that looked like someone had walked in on someone doing something they shouldn't be doing. Or like dumb and dumber confessed their love and have nothing better to do than sit there and stare into space.

"You're soaked."

The blonde stared at him disbelief.

Nice one, self. You just won most intelligent and well placed line of the year. Congratulations. You about the romantic capacity of a well placed brick wall.

The room went silent. "I know. She said quietly. "The taxi ran out of gas about a few yards away from the hotel and I had to walk, and it was good three kilometres. But it was free, and… That's why I'm so late."

"Your job-"

She shook her head, sorely tempted to roll her eyes. Men are so thick. "Don't you see? It's not the job I want. It's you."

Moron.

He silently moved from his spot and slowly brushed her wet hair back and moved his lips to her ear. "I love you." He pulled back so he could look at her. "…When I said-"

"I know… Thank you." She whispered, leaning her head on his shoulder.

Thank you for loving me enough to be able to let me go.

She smiled, before slowly putting both of her hands on the side of his face and kissing him.

Then she heard the familiar ring of the God awful phone. That really was an annoying ring tone. Her eyes flattened and she pulled away.

Damn thing. Always interrupting. Despite the bloody thing being electronic it sure knew how to kill the mood. She hoped it one day would face the horrible fate of being left conveniently in the rain.

Hm. She could probably arrange that.

The blonde watched as he picked the cell phone up and turned to her.

Oh no, you _didn't_. She thought darkly. He looked up at her silently before calmly moved his fingers to the off button, carelessly throwing to the side of the room. "You're more important." He said quietly.

A small smile crossed her face, as he leant down to kiss her. She slowly found his hands and intertwined them with her own so their wedding bands were pressed together before guiding him towards the bed.

He broke the kiss, looking at her with full seriousness. "Look, we don't have to-"

She placed a finger on his lips. "I know." She removed her finger and looked at him. "But I want to."

He nodded silently, his hands finding her slim hips before claiming her lips.

Needless to say, there weren't any overly intelligent conversations for the rest of the night.

o o o 

The man on the train looked at the old woman blankly. "..So you're telling me I'm in denial, there someone's who's put their trust in me, and that someone out there's in love with me…?"

o o o

11 pages, go me. Love this chapter because I haven't finished my World History report for it. And yes, they did sleep together. Finally, I know. It only took 25 chapters. :D I really hope this chapter made sense. Because I'm only like half awake.

So yeah, go review and fan girl.


	26. Sheets

"Good morning." She opened one eye to acknowledge him in her sleep deprived state before smiling.

"Good morning yourself." The blonde shut her eyes again as she curled up against him. "Did you get any sleep?"

He sighed, "Some." He placed a kiss on her shoulder. "You?"

"Some." She rolled over so she was facing him.

He mumbled something incoherent and sat up. "What time is it?"

"8:25AM." She watched as he brushed his bangs out of his face. "Tired?"

The brunette shot her a small smile. "…Someone kept me up." 

"Really? Because the same person that's complaining says he wants children."

"I wasn't complaining." He murmured before pulling her back into bed.

o o o

"Where were you? We so worried! You didn't call, or leave a message. What have I taught you up to this point? Call if you're not coming home."

The blonde watched blankly as her mother lectured her like she was still sixteen before sighing. "I'm sorry." Squall tried to offer an apologetic look and failed utterly. He had timing issues. Either that or old women everywhere had a radar warning when he was coming back. Why? Because he had the uncanny luck of managing to walk right into women's tea session.

Again.

Her mother sighed. "But I'm glad you're alright. Everything is sorted, right?"

They both nodded.

"Because if things weren't, your Grandmother here would have to have a very long talk with you. You'd be surprised how many family relationships she's patched up. That was after she lost the rings in about three of your relative's weddings, though. At least she made a comeback in the relationship department eventually."

Right. Somehow that wasn't very helpful to know.

"What did you say about me? I only lost two rings. The last one the dog ate." Her mother shot the older woman a disbelieving look as she walked into the room.

"There wasn't ever a dog at the wedding. Skippy died a month before that-" 

"No, dear, he didn't. I remember precisely-"

Quistis sighed. "Mother-"

"We found him outside on the deck-"

"We didn't! He was on the-" 

"Oh, no you're right. He was on the railing." The grandmother sighed. "By the way, Quistis, honey? How are the grandchildren coming?"

"Oh, don't start on that again." 

"But dear! I want to see Great Grandkiddies before I'm off to the big hotel in the sky! Besides, who doesn't like to have a little-"

"You're really bent on this aren't you?" Her mother asked, dryly.

"As I was trying to say," Quistis said, dead panned. "We're trying."

"To drown out your grandmother? I am too, honey."

"No, I mean… Never mind."

Her mother shrugged before going to back to her heated debate leaving the couple in an awkward silence. "Do you think Allen is going be coming anytime soon?"

Squall shrugged silently.

"You mean you aren't staying the night? How am I going to encourage children?" The bickering old woman hollered suddenly dropping the previous argument. "I'm not getting any younger, you know."

"We know." The other occupant of the dropped argument replied dryly. "Believe me, we know. Oh right, about Allen, he called earlier and said he could be dropping by around one or two to pick you up."

Her grandmother smirked to herself before looping an arm around her granddaughter's neck. "Good. That means we can discuss your marriage in some more detail. So about that time you were on the table-"

o o o 

Selphie and Rinoa waited patiently at the door. Well, as patiently as they really could muster. After all, waiting wasn't either of their fortes. "Oh, oh, oh! I see them!" Selphie squealed, pointing at the window. She paused a moment before squinting. "I think something's wrong though…"

The raven haired girl struggled to push the other girl out of the designated peeping hole. "What? Are they hurt? Did someone get shot?! Tell me!"

Selphie continued to squint. "…Squall looks happy."

"Happy?" The other girl asked, confused. "What-"

"OhmyGodRinny!" 

"What?" Rinoa asked, exasperatedly. It was quite miffling not being able to see what was going on.

"They're holding hands!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! Woohoo! And-" The girl got cut off as the sound of the door opening downstairs reached them. "They're home!" She squeaked happily before racing down the stairs, Rinoa at her heels. "Hi!"

Squall stared at them. Someone was a bit happier than usual. "…Hey."

"How did your trip go?" Rinoa asked, trying to nudge Selphie to calm down before she started bouncing off the walls. Literally.

The brunette almost stared off into space for a moment. "Fine." 

"Fine? That's it?"

Squall stared at them. What did they want? A detailed report? "Good."

The blonde beside him put her suitcases down before taking a look at the scene. "I hope you didn't have any wild parties while we were gone."

Rinoa let out a nervous laugh before surveying the two. Squall looked happy, she was off in lala land. And - was her shirt her done up wrong? Selphie squinted for a moment before coming to a conclusion. 

"Did you sleep together?"

Silence. They looked at each other and back to the maids before turning their gaze simultaneously to the walls.

"You did, didn't you? Booyaka! It's so sweet! Love is in the air! Woohoo!" Selphie grinned, grabbing Rinoa's hands. "What do you think, Rinny? How long until kids? Do you think I can be an aunt? Aunt Selphie? I like it!"

The blonde watched with a small smile before suddenly being pulled into a hug. "Congratulations!"

She blinked, awkwardly patting Rinoa on the back. Congratulations for what? Sleeping with him? 

"…For what?" Squall finally asked, watching the whole scene utterly confused.

"Oh, not you. The butler over there, see? He won the bet!"

The couple looked at the girls as an eerie silence came over the room. "I um, mean well- It's not like we had bets running or anything… it's just-"

"Who called it? Who called it? That's right! Steve! STEVE!" The butler exclaimed, waltzing in the room unannounced. "Eight months on the dot! Suckers! Rinny, you got whipped so bad! Three months, what kind of bet is that?"

The raven-haired girl went crimson looking for the nearest available exit. "…That's not how it looks."

"Really." The blonde said, dryly. "Is that why you were so instant on us always being together?"

"That was genuine!" Selphie added, trying to signal to the butler not to reveal her bet while the couple wasn't looking. It wasn't her fault she had a rather… low estimate. 

"Yeah. He's so grumpy when he's alone, he had to get someone to perk him up!" Rinoa said hastily, still trying to figure out which exit wasn't conveniently blocked with people trying to see their badly made up excuses. "But why don't you go um, relax while we clean up. Okay?" With that, she shooed them off to their room while the entourage followed with their suitcases.

The couple watched as the rest of the household shuffles off arguing about who got what amount of money and or black mail before dragging their belongings inside. The blonde sighed with a smile, "I suppose I shouldn't have put that past them at all."

Squall sighed. "They're always doing things like that."

"That doesn't surprise me either." She smiled, looping her arms around his neck. "Dare I ask what's on the agenda this week?"

The brunette paused a moment, trying to go through his own calendar area in his brain. "There's a charity ball on Saturday."

"You really need to start giving earlier notice." She said with a sigh, "I don't suppose it's casual?" He resisted giving her a flat look, before shaking his head. When where they ever casual? The blonde sighed, dejectedly. "You know, those dresses are very uncomfortable."

He shrugged. "Wear pants underneath?"

The blonde gave a flat look before letting out a laugh. "Who in their right mind would wear pants…" Trailing off, she paused a moment, weighing the idea in her mind. "Do you think anyone would notice?"

A brief smirk graced his face before answered. "The skirt chasers."

She playfully smacked his arm. "That wasn't the answer I was looking for, you know."

"Then what answer did you want?"

"I don't know." His wife laughed, "But I doubt that was it." After a moment, she pulled away and started putting away the clothes in the suitcases. "I was thinking about it," She paused a moment to fold a sweater before continuing. "and I think that…" The blonde trailed off as he pulled her onto his lap.

"Yeah?"

"Squall, you know I can't really carry on a sentence when you…" She trailed off again, as she kissed her neck. "…do that. It's hard to concentra- Squall!" 

"What?" He asked calmly, although evidently amused. 

Giving him a glare, she pointing to his rather wandering hands. "This isn't appropriate at all- oh! Okay, stop or else I'll never unpack these."

He leaned against her neck. "And that's a problem… why?"

"Because if I don't unpack them, I'll make you do it." She said quickly, trying to sound intimidating but failing.

The brunette raised an eyebrow at her, both knowing the threat would never actually be executed. Last time she had tried to make him unpack a suitcase, they had been there hours as he tried to figure out the difference between undershirts and normal shirts, never mind unpacking.

There was pause before she sighed. "Alright, that was an empty threat."

He nodded, a small smile creeping across his features as she leaned into kiss him. The blonde could only sigh when a knock on the door and a pair of muffled voices interrupted them.

"You knocked, right? 'Cause you know, now that they're together-"

"Selphie, please. I really don't need that image in my head." Came Rinoa's voice exasperatedly, though muffled from the other side of the door. "Besides, they just got home."

"You know what they say about rabbits-"

Squall lifted her off him and padded over to open the door, giving the two a deadpanned look. Selphie withered visibly at the look, and nudged Rinoa. The latter nudged the other girl back, and they started what seemed like a nudging contest before Rinoa finally lost and started talking. "Um, the guy is here to see you."

The brunette stared that girl. "…What guy?" 

"You know, the _guy_."

"What guy?" Quistis asked, confused.

"The GUY, Squall." Rinoa hissed, making hand motions while the couple continued to look at them utterly confused. "The guy that likes rocks."

"_Rocks_." Selphie added, emphasizing the word. "You know, gold and SILVER." 

"Those aren't rocks." The blonde commented, with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, you know. Things kinda like um, diamonds?" The brunette maid said, trying to be casual.

"Cause diamonds are a girl's best friend." Rinoa added, nervously. "Everyone likes diamonds, Squall."

The brunette stared at them like they had just come back from swimming a lap in a nearly frozen pool. "Diamonds and silver?" Selphie finally asked, meekly. The man continued to look like they had just presented him with a math problem only a genius could have come up with.

"Never mind!" Rinoa finally yelled irritated, grabbing his arm and dragging him down the stairs. "We'll be back later!"

Quistis watched as he was dragged down the steps before finally turning to Selphie. "What was that about?"

The brunette shrugged with a smile. "Nothing, teehee! So spit it out! What happened? Let's hear it!"  
"It's a long story."

The maid grinned looking at the clock. "We've got time." She turned back to the blonde. "Lots of time." She added, dryly.

The blonde sighed, coming to the sudden realization that the house wasn't nearly as large as thought months before.

There was no where she could hide from this girl, after all.

o o o

Six hours later, Rinoa was thoroughly proud of herself when she came back to the mansion with Squall looking rather weary but somewhat accomplished on her arm. Yes, indeed. Rinoa considered herself a saviour to this man, after all how was he supposed to pick out things without a woman to help him?

Stopping at the door, she turned him with her hands on her hips. "Okay, so you know how you're going to do this, right?" 

The brunette resisted to roll his eyes, and instead settled with just nodding his head. At least he hoped he did. "Yeah, thanks Rin." Rin had become a bit of pet name towards to her, as he she had somehow wormed her way into his heart. She was like the sister he never had, or at the very least a female friend… Or something. He wasn't going to put much thought into that. She was there, and he appreciated her. That was all that needed to be said.

The girl grinned, as she gave him a quick hug. "You'll do fine!" She gave him a gentle push on the shoulder and a wink before walking off to find Selphie.

Somehow, the 'You'll do fine!' didn't help him. What he needed was a miracle.

One huge miracle.

He sighed, and climbed up the stairs to his… their room. Debating on whether to knock or not, even though he didn't know why he would, he finally just opened the door entered. The blonde stared back at him, probably equally as frazzled.

"Selphie?" The brunette asked dryly.

His wife nodded, gesturing for him to sit down. "She wanted to everything." After a pause, she added everything again, stressing the word for all it was worth before continuing. "Did you meet the man you were supposed to see?"

He ran his fingers through his bangs before sighing. "Yeah."

"And did you talk about your 'rocks'?" She asked, raising an eyebrow - evidently amused.

"Yeah. It was boring. …He reminded of Odine." The brunette paused a moment before continuing with an Odine impression. "You zee, this is zee zing you have zeeking!"

She laughed, covering her mouth with slim hands. "That's actually a quite good impression you know."

"Is zis?"

The blonde quirked an eyebrow at him. "Squall, it's very good but you're never going to a get a 'talk Odine to me' out of me anytime soon."

"…I'd be scared if you said that."

"Talk to Squall to me?" She asked with a laugh. "Is that more suitable for you?"

His fingers found her wrists as he pulled her down to the bed. "Very." 

Putting a finger to his lips, she smiled. "No, that's when you're supposed to say 'whatever'."

The man allowed himself a smile as well before answering. "Whatever." He murmured before placing his mouth over hers.

o o o

Selphie glanced at the clock before glancing to Rinoa, and then to the door. "You think I should go in, Rinny?"

The girl sighed, tapping her foot. "I don't know, but hurry up and decide. I have to go and make sure the rest of the girls here pick up the right plates!"

"Well, I mean it should be okay!" The brunette said, somewhat unsure of herself. "I mean, Squall left like, three hours ago. And it's almost noon, so she'd be up right?"

Rinoa pushed the girl towards to door. "Really, Selphie! What's the worst that can happen? She can still be asleep? Just go in and like, ask her to help you with the filing… Although this never would have happened if you had just filed like the rest of us instead of sneaking off and seeing that movie!"

"Jeez, I'm never gonna live that down am I?" Selphie muttered, before finally just pushing open the door. 

"See?" The other maid, said exasperatedly putting her arms up. "It's fine-" She was cut off as she accidentally knocked a vase over, sending it shattering over the floor, a loud ping noise ringing through the hallway. Both girls cursed quietly, crossing their fingers that all Hell wouldn't break loose.

The blonde blinked a few times before rolling over.

"Okay, she didn't wake up - it's fine."

"Selphie, we want her _awake_, not sleeping." Rinoa hissed, turning the lights on.

"But-" The brunette has barely started her sentence when she caught sight of which vase it was exactly she had knocked over. "OH MY GOD, RINNY! IT'S THE EDEA COLLECTION ONE!"

"Are you serious?!" Rinoa asked, horrified.

The woman in bed slowly opened her eyes and sat up, the bed sheets clutched her to chests. "…What's going in here?"

"Wargh!" Both girls screamed, not noticing she was up. "What are you doing up - are you naked?!" Selphie asked, wide eyed.

"Selphie!" Rinoa snapped, putting her palm to her face.

"But I just - but - heeey, wait. This isn't… those aren't your… your… gah? Gah!" 

"Gah?" Rinoa and Quistis repeated, confused.  
"Those are my sheets!" The petite girl finally exclaimed, distraught. 

"They are?"

"Oh Selphie - I'm sorry!" Quistis apologized, throwing them off the bed.

"Hyne, you ARE naked!"

"SELPHIE!"

o o o 

"So you want me to do your filing for you." The blonde said dryly, straightening her dress.

"Please? Please, please, please-" 

The other woman help up a hand to silence her. "Why exactly didn't you get them done in the first place?"

Selphie squirmed under her gaze. "I um well, there was this movie out. And well, it was one of the cool kun pow ones, and the guy was soooo cute! Tee-hee! But um, I need you to do them because I have to go help Rinny with the rest of the girls here! And the Mr. Leonhart's papers are due today at two!"

Quistis sighed, "Fine." 

"Really?! That's it?! " The brunette gushed. "Aww, thanks Quisty! I'll make it up to you, I promise! Booyaka!" She flashed the other woman a peace sign before pausing at the door way. "Tee-hee! Last night must have been really good if you're so happy now!"

"Selphie!" The blonde hissed, feeling her face flush. The girl merely grinned at her. "Alright, get going now." She said sternly before heading off in the direction of the office she was supposedly never supposed to enter.

The woman pulled up the chair and flipped through the file cabinet. Nothing, nothing, nothing. She wasn't even really sure what she was looking for. All she had really heard was something about fax numbers. The rest was a bit fuzzy.

That's what she got for being half asleep at noon. Karma hated her.

It wasn't helping that all the papers looked the same, either. She rolled her eyes rooting through various folders. Didn't he have secretaries for these things? The blonde sighed again, standing on tiptoes in an attempt to reach the higher up folders.

She could only mutter under her breath and give a glare when they all came crashing down around her feet. Files everywhere. It was like 352 million pick up. Wonderful. She squatted down and began gathering them, piling them in messy stacks so she could go through them all. At least picking up cards was a game. It's not like paper picking up was going to be the new reality series anytime soon.

One in particular caught her eye though. She sat down fully, reading it over it.

_The ratings have been going up since the 'mistake'. This could work for me. I can keep her around for while… They fall for anything, I'll make her fall in love with me. You tell them you love them and they'll bend over backwards for you._

PS: I got the divorce papers.

The blonde dropped the paper instantly.

"Oh my God."

OMG GUYS, CLIFFHANGER. 

Sorry this took so long to get out guys. I had such a hard time trying to decide if I wanted to end it at the last chapter or post this. I weighed the options for so long, and then I figured, well eventually she'd probably find out.

Also, homework comes first. I've got about two more auditions/interviews for university so I don't know when I'll be updating next. But, I also got a random early acceptance for a college, which is good news for me. The rest of the story is already written, so expect the rest of the chapters to be posted quickly!


	27. Beloved

"I'm cancelling the gala tonight. I'm not going, besides she looks tired."

"Well, you'd better hurry up and tell her then."

"Why's that?" The author asked, crossing his arms.

"She's making a run for it." Allen said dryly. Squall bolted up from his sitting position.

"What?!" He exclaimed, looking out the window; and he was right. Quistis was out there in the rain. "Dammit! Stop the car!" The limo came to an abrupt stop. "What the hell is she doing?" He hissed, getting out in a frenzied hurry.

"Quistis!" Squall ran over to her. She turned around, and he was met with a look that put Trabia's ice cold weather to shame with ease. "You're going to catch a cold." He said, ignoring the glare; wrapping his arms around her. She jerked out of his embrace and pushed him away; he stared at her confused.

"How long were you planning to keep this up, Squall?" She asked quietly.

His blood ran cold, and he was almost petrified with fear. "Keep what up?"

"Don't lie. You know what I'm talking about." She angrily. "Is that all I was good for? Is that all you wanted me for?! Your ratings and sex?! The fax, Squall! Tell a woman you love them and they'll bend over backwards for you? Are you starting to remember now?!" She yelled almost on the verge of crying.

"Quistis, look-" He started, pleading.

"Don't Quistis me!" She snapped. "You told me you loved me... I gave up everything I had for you!" Her voice cracked there. "All for someone who only wanted me for ratings. How does it feel, Squall? Knowing you can manipulate someone into loving you? Was it fun asking me if I'd stay around even if you got the divorce papers? You lied to me. You had them the whole time."

"I never lied about-"

"You did!" She yelled, frustrated. "Don't you tell me you didn't lie to me!"

Squall was silent.

She took a shaky breath, calming herself down. He wasn't worth her anger. "I'm going home, Squall. And I'm not coming back. I'll send you the divorce forms." He watched silently as she took off the wedding ring and put it in his hand. "…Tell Selphie and Rinoa I said goodbye." He watched as she turned and left, finally hailing down a taxi.

And for once and his life, Squall Leonheart honestly felt like crying. He had lost her.

[ o [ o [ o

Hours later, and a few thousand gil lighter; she was home. Finally. She took a deep breath before finding the side entrance to the garden and making her way to the Headmaster's office. She had called ahead to see if they were still hiring, and to her luck, yes; although she had the distinct feeling they just kicked the other out on the curb when she had asked.

Her Instructor's license had been re-established, and she was feeling as shitty as ever. So stupid. She felt so stupid. To be used like that... She sighed, clenching her dorm key tightly and setting a brisk walk to her dorm.

Her dorm, surprisingly, was the exact same way she left it. Still plain, white and now that she looked at it, she came to the conclusion that it was, indeed small. She sighed, shutting the door immediately making a bee line towards the bed and flopping down on it.

She shut her eyes tightly and squeezed the living daylights out of the pillow before finally releasing it and putting it down. She sighed, rolling over onto her stomach listening to all the students in the hallway, and when she finally heard knocking at the door it didn't surprise her.

It was only matter of time before Xu would come to scream at her and ask where the hell she had been for the last four months.

Sighing, she got up and opened the door. Xu merely stared at her. "Where have you been?"

The blonde shook her head and hugged the other woman, teary eyes. "It's a long story."

Xu blinked surprised, before shuffling both of them in the room and shutting the door. She smiled, "I've got time." She shooed the other woman and made her sit on the bed while she pulled up a chair. "Last I hear were engaged to a certain celebrity author." Her smile faded. "So what happened? Your mom told me you two were perfectly in love? You guys even dated apparently, which is odd since usually when one dates a celebrity one tells their best friend-"

"We never dated." Xu looked up in surprise.

"Wha-?" 0.00043 seconds. New record for reaction time.

"We never dated, Xu. I never even knew who he was until that night you took me out to the bar." The other woman paled considerably at that point. "I got ...really drunk that night. We both got really drunk that night. I woke up married to him the next morning." She sighed, looking away. "That's why you couldn't find me that night or in morning."

"In the morning he convinced me to stay married to him until the divorce papers came so we both didn't ruin our careers. Imagine what people would say if they found out, Xu. So I agreed." The blonde clenched her fists. "I fell in love with him. He told me he loved me. I really.. I really thought he did. When we first met, he was a cold insensitive man. I thought he had changed. I was wrong." She blinked back tears. "He used me. He told me he loved me and told me all that bullshit to keep me around since it kept his ratings up."

Xu sat in shock. "Quistis..."

"I feel like such an idiot! I fell for it! It's the oldest trick in the book and I fell for it." She trailed off. "I slept with him."

The brunette patted her back gently. "You were drunk, you couldn't have known..."

She shook her head. "I wasn't drunk the second time."

Oh. Xu sat silent. There weren't exactly guides to these kinds of things.

"...Or the third."

Xu cleared her throat awkwardly, best friends were supposed to listen to all these personal things, she knew that. She just wasn't keen on knowing how many times who slept with whom. "What are you going to tell your parents?" Good job. Switch the subject.

She sighed. "The truth. They deserve to know." She got up, wiping her face stubbornly. "I'm staying there for dinner since Dad went out with some friends. Can I borrow your car? Mine is in the back parking lot."

Xu nodded before sighing. "Quistis…"

The blonde paused a moment, her arm only halfway through the sleeve of her coat as she stepped through the door.

Visions of her best friend rearing someone out of spite, or rolling her own car danced through Xu's head. Most people would take a few sick days to get over the emotion blows of this circumstance. Quistis just vented by driving like a mad man and accumulating forty thousand speeding tickets. "You really shouldn't be driving in your condition-"

The door slammed shut.

[ o [ o [ o

Her mother were almost bouncing off the wall when she drove in. She signed, turning the engine off and sighed sadly before getting out. Her mother greeted her at the door. "Honey!" The blonde silently held out her arms to receive the hug. "You're full of surprises. First you show up in a limo and now in Xu's car."

She forced a smile. "Mine was in the back parking lot. I didn't want to bother the Garden Staff to get it out for me today."

Mrs. Trepe looked behind her. "Where's Squall?"

Quistis inwardly cringed. "He...he didn't come with me today." Tsk, tsk. Liar, liar.

"Oh." Her mother said somewhat disappointed, before bouncing back in a full blown smile. "Well, be sure to bring him home left overs then!"

The blonde forced another smile. "Yeah..." She whispered quietly, stepping into the kitchen. "Where's Zell?"

"Zell? He's over at his new friend's house. What's her name? You know, the librarian at your school?"

"Really?" Quistis smiled, finding the dish cloth and absent-mindedly scrubbing away at the coffee stain on the counter. She sighed moving from the counter to the wiping the coffee table in an effort to keep herself busy. "That's good. She's had a crush on him for ages."

Her mother watched her carefully. "Honey?"

"...Yes?"

The blonde inhaled sharply as her mother took her left arm and raised it. "Where's your wedding ring?"

[ o [ o [ o

Squall sighed, putting his pen down from the paper work and casting a look at her wedding ring on the desk in from of him. It flickered in the twilight and he sighed, picking it up gingerly and examining it before putting it down again and concentrating again on the paperwork.

D. NORG of Esthar has requested your presence at 2356 Sorceress' Memorial Drive on September 26th for the confirmation of your divorce to the media. Request Accepted?:

It was still hard to believe it had been just days earlier when they were perfectly happy. Now they were just two people afraid to love again. Now she was gone. Idiot, he cursed himself. Why hadn't he said anything? Why hadn't he stopped her?

He sighed his gaze again travelling back to the ring, before finding his way back to the paper work. The pen in his hand trembled slightly as if reached the paper. He growled. This was worse that quitting something cold turkey. He inhaled slowly looking at his hand.

It was probably time he took that off. Slowly he reached down and removed the wedding band from his ring finger before placing it beside hers. The brunette focused his gaze back to the paper before quickly scribbling down on the paper.

Accepted.

Maybe he was just incapable of loving.

He stood up quickly, walking over to the night stand and taking something over to the garbage, and clenching it tightly before dropping the object in the bin.

[ o [ o [ o

Sign on the x. She's heard it before a million times. She sighed, looking over the forms.

How ironic, she pursed her lips tapping the pen on the paper lightly. She finally got the papers, and know she didn't know what to do with them. She put the pen down, before picking it up again and then repeating the action.

This was going no where, she had been here for three hours straight and still hadn't made a single mark on the paper.

The blonde sighed, putting her head down on the desk. She wanted this. She had wanted this the whole damn time, and now she wasn't even sure if she could sign them. She lifted her head and stared at the papers again.

Do you really want this? Her mind nagged. Are you sure you're not still in love with him? Can you honestly say you don't want to spend the rest of your life with him? Can you truly say you didn't mean it when you told him you were glad you married him?

She took a deep breath and picked up the pen. Squall Leonheart was in the past, and her career was her future. And there was no room for the past in her future. He would become a memory, and she's start a new life. One without him.

There's no going back once you sign.

She put down the pen again. Yes, she loved him. She had loved him more than any other man on the entire face of the Earth

But loved... loved was past tense. She picked up the pen, and took a deep breath, trying to still her heart from the adrenaline rush telling her she would regret this. It was time to move on. She couldn't live in the shadow of him anymore.

She signed the paper. 

Gah. I really wanted to get this up earlier but then all the culminating and school and whatnot. I got into everywhere I applied to though! Then I was really hesitant about posting this since I wrote this really early on in the story, and there was while when I just didn't want to update at all. I wanted to delete this story for the longest time but then I told myself I needed to finish this story for everyone that's reading it. Also, this is going to be last update until August since I'm off to Athens/Crete/Rome/ect. Again, I'm really sorry for the wait guys!


	28. Drainpipes

"You know, you're really not helping yourself by getting drunk." Rinoa said, confiscating whatever drink he had and putting her hands on her hips.

Squall sighed. Drunk? He hadn't even started. "She left."

"...We know. She left a week ago and all you've done is sit here and drink." The girl said quietly.

"But sitting here isn't going to fix anything!" She smiled, walking over out of the room with the bottle and coming back with the phone.

"Here. You have to start somewhere."

Oh, deja vu. He glanced at the phone before looking away. "…I can't. She'll never believe me."

Rinoa rolled her eyes before kicking his chair. "She's not going to believe you if you don't call!" The brunette flattened his eyes at the impact. "You love her, don't you? Or are you going to pull that I'm-macho-man Squall and I'm too good to go tell the woman I love it was a big mistake?"

He stayed silent and she sighed. "Look, you love her right? Don't be a jerk! Go tell her."

He looked away.

She frowned, kicking his chair again before leaning down to his level so they were eye to eye. "The woman you love is one of the nicest, smartest and wisest people I know. She won't stay alone for long. Are you really going to let her go just to save your ego?"

"Here's her number... I got it out of her jacket when I was doing the laundry." She paused a moment. "I think it's her number, anyway. But you can't just sit her and mope around! It's not-"

He stood up silently, cutting her off. "I've got a meeting, Rinoa. I'm going."

"You can't keep acting like this-"

He snapped around. "One more word out of you and you're fired."

"You're a coward!" Rinoa snapped. "You won't go after her because you're scared she's going to break your heart! That she's going to leave you and break your heart, and you can't bare the thought of that so you're not even going to try are you? Are you?! You're so scared of being alone that you're not even going to try to get her back! If people put up an umbrella all their life it's true they'll never get the rain! But you know what, Squall? They never get any sunshine either. Do you really want to be the man that lost the woman he loved just because he was scared? ...I don't think you do.. and I don't think you want to be that man either."

He stopped at the door way. "Get out, Rinoa. You're done working here."

[ o [ o [ o

She hadn't even been this rickety nervous when she first began teaching, but she was sure as hell glad there was a desk in front of her so no one could see how tight she was holding onto it.

Vacations, pregnancy leaves and sick days were one thing. Coming back after getting married to some hot shot author was another. She stayed silent as the students filed in one by one and took their seats. The silence in the room told they were thinking the same thing. What the hell have you been?

The blonde forced a smile. "I'm sorry I've been gone for the last four months, but I'll resume as your teacher for the rest of the year. ..I just hope you haven't harassed the supply teachers too much while I was gone. "

She vaguely saw a Trepie in the front row mouthing the words 'Thank you, Hyne' to the sky. She continued, "Alright, enough from me. How many of you have questions?"

All the hands in the class immediately rose to air faster than she could blink.

She sighed, supposing it would be a good time to specify. "Questions that relate to class, I mean."

All the hands went down. "Now that we've got that cleared up, who wants to tell me about what the supply has gone over with you?"

The red head in the back of the class waving her hands madly caught her attention, so she picked her. "Yes?" The name of the student suddenly just escaped her and she mentally kicked her self. Nice going. Forget all your students.

"Why did you get divorced? Don't you still love him? Why don't you love him! He's the cutest guy in the whole entire world! If I were you I'd totally stay married to him! Oh my gosh! He's so cute! You're so lucky to even marry him! Was he good in -"

She vaguely felt her eye twitch. "Class related questions, only please. Any more of these questions and you'll be having detention with Instructor Biggs."

The whole class shuddered, and she sat down slowly. "Open your texts books to page 101, and start reading."

The girl's words echoed in her head.

Don't you still love him?

...Don't you?

[ o [ o [ o

If the words on the page were any bolder, or any bigger, he would have put money on the fact that he probably could have smacked him across the face.

Because in front of him, was a dandy little slip of paper that oh so simply asking him to move to Esthar.

Permanently, yes, and it was a given that he was to live with all the benefits.. (Norg contrary to popular belief was not as stupid as he looked.) Added salary, book deals, free mansion - and car. …With the little (little because it was in very tiny small print) that he was so formally divorce his wife, and marry some woman he had never heard of in his entire life.

Not that it would be much of a challenge. He had done it before, after all.  
He was sure it was part of some celebrity mastermind campaign to make the world a brighter, more beneficial place to be by making celebrities breed gorgeous, rich babies into the world. How exactly that would help, he didn't have any idea. If anything, it would result in a hell of a lot more toy poodles in the world. Not to mention, quite possibly, even more spoiled brats.

In silence, he contemplated this. And came up with one word to summarize the idea: Bleh.

Until the silence was broken.

By something that sounded suspiciously like rattling on the drainpipes, scrapping tin and an occasional curse.

He was used to noises going through the house. It was a half empty mansion, of course he would know every single thing that happened.

But unusual noises from the drainpipes and odd knocking noises from the window were a bit unsettling.

You know, just a bit. Thus, it gave him three possible outlooks on the situation a) he was going crazy b) someone was climbing up the drainpipe to sneak in or finally, c) that someone that was climbing up the drainpipe was actually just a rabid squirrel, and he really had nothing to worry about. Except for rabies.

He held back a shudder, leaning his head back against the chair.

And he could have sworn he heard the distinct noise of clanging against the outside drain pipe.

Just a squirrel. Just a crazy, suicidal squirrel.

The brunette opened his eyes lazily, and paused.

That was so not a squirrel.

"I've heard you divorced my granddaughter."

Sure. It was always his fault. So, fine. Maybe it was, but-

"How did you get in here?" He snapped, sitting upright.

The better question was probably, do you have more 'allies' waiting for me in the yard, though.

He was staring at the only woman on quite possibly the entire face of the planet that could unnerve him enough to actually do a mental shutdown.

It was her grandmother, appearing before him in black clothes; who, apparently, had just climbed up the drain pipers judging by the foliage all over her outfit.

"Up the drainpipes and through the window. You should really think about getting more security."

"…You climbed up the drainpipe." He repeated, deadpanned.

"Well, I couldn't very well go through the front door. Have you seen the lock on that door?"

He wisely decided to ignore the sarcastic comment in his brain, and went for the more suitable question. "…Why are you here?"

Apparently the whole concept of angry-grandmother-coming-to-assassinate-you hadn't quite filtered through the coherent part of his brain yet.

"I've heard you what you did to my granddaughter. How am I supposed to get my heirs, now? I'm getting up there, I need grandchildren-"

Gentlemen, start marking your exits.

"I'm not having this talk with you." He said, coolly.

Way to go. Provoke the bull, why don't you? Wave a red flag while you're at it, Einstein. But honestly, up the drain pipe-

"She's still in love with you."

Who hell goes up the drain pipe? She'd have to have magnetic shoes or something-

Waitaminute.

"…What?" he asked, after a long pause.

"She's still in love with you. It's my granddaughter after all, I would know these things. Her mother's been telling me she definitely hasn't gotten over you. Sure, she went on a couple of dates, but it wasn't the same. And there was a whole thing about some guy that had a dog or something, but we all know dogs are a bad sign. Look at ol' skippy there-"

"She signed the papers."

"Papers aren't everything. Maybe she thought it was a receipt or something. If I had a dollar for every time I've signed papers like that-"

If her Grandmother and Laguna were twins separated at birth, he wouldn't have been surprised. The brunette sighed, putting his palm to his forehead. This situation definitely deserved a face palm. "Can I have some time alone?"

Which translated to: escort yourself out just without the 'whatever' and a bit nicer.

"Only if you get me lots of grandchildren before I bite the bullet! Or kick the bucket, oh, speaking of which - guess what?" She didn't wait for him to reply, and giddily rubbed her hands together. "Quistis is pregnant."

Silence.

"Triplets. I'm convinced! Everyone else says otherwise, but I know. It's a grandmother's intuition!"

He was going to faint any second now. Or drop dead. He wasn't sure but either one of the two in roughly 3.00934 seconds.

Or maybe both. Was it even possible to spontaneously faint and drop dead at the same time? Sure it was. If he managed to faint, hit his head in the desk hard enough- It wasn't impossible. All those people on the medical dramas did it, though. Well, not exactly the same way, but still. So it was possible. Maybe. But then again, it was scripted-

She'spregnantwithyourchildandyou'regoingovermedicaldramasinyourhead.

Idiot.

"Then again, most of the times they said it will probably be four of six-"

What screwed up genetic family tree had he just bred into? Four or six?

"But then again, there've been cases of two kittens per litter. Who knows!"

Squall stared at the woman, clearing demonstrating his 'you-lost-me-three-sentences-ago' face. "…What?" Unless someone had managed to twist the plot on him, and the entire time he had been married to some genetically altered cat girl; he was fairly sure there shouldn't be any kittens in this equation.

"What?" The grandmother repeated, confused. "I was talking about my cat. Had to get over ol' Skippy eventually-"

"…You named your cat Quistis?"

Let me demonstrate my 'I am not amused' voice.

"I had my cats named after all my grandchildren! It's the only way I'm probably going to actual great grand children! Clearly, someone isn't helping the matter." She paused a moment before wheeling on him. "But this proves something! You're still in love with her!"

The brunette found himself torn between asking how many cats and or grandchildren she had, or the more obvious question of, what did or didn't you inhale/digest/walk through before this? "…I'm-"

Not going through this talk with you?

Going to call security?

Bang your head against the desk and pretend this is all a dream? Get your head in the game, man. Say something! It's called talking. Open your mouth-

"You haven't signed the papers." Okay. Who let the old grandmother at the papers? She skimmed over the papers and put them down on the desk. "Sign them. I dare you."

His brain came to an abrupt halt. And his mind slammed into it.

I dare you?

That was the card he wasn't expecting; from good ol' Skippy to daring him to sign the papers.

Wow.

And she was eyeing him down, waiting for an answer. One he didn't have. And he had a feeling that old point and run trick wasn't going to work. He wished it would though. He really did.

Because this woman was a ready for a smack down fest.

"What do you want me to say?"

Good. Be careful with what you said. Who knows what else she has in that purse of hers.

She raised an eyebrow in silence. "I'm not asking for what I want, I'm asking for what you need."

What he needed.

The brunette looked to his desk for moment before looking back up.

The room was empty.

Yes, indeed. He was wrong about her being a crazy Amazon. He knew now, for sure, he had been way out of line. There was no way at all she had ever been a crazy Amazon.

She was definitely an ex-ninja.

[ o [ o [ o

Mr. Leonhart, how nice to see you." Norg droned. "I almost didn't think you'd be here. I am glad to see you here though. Did you bring the papers?" Squall held them up silently. "Excellent." Norg said with a large grin, taking them.

"I'm here. …Start talking." He crossed his arms, looking to the board where various salaries were written on the board. The people in the room shuffled uncomfortably.

"Now that you've... rid yourself of that unnecessary item of yours, Mr. Leonhart. We can beg discussing the media involvement. We've decided to the let the Galbadia weekly and Esther Entertainment take the lead with it. And with this recent offer Ester is offering you, you can increase your salary tenfold, Mr. Leonhart... If you would be willing to work in Esther 350 days of the next year to endorse your divorce, that is."

The room went silent for a moment before starting up.

"That's an incredible option, Mr. Leonhart. Think about all the opportunities it would give you!"

"Esther is the publishing future!"

"That means you'd be making over 2 million gil every month."

_I don't think you want to be the man that lost the woman he loved just because he was scared... _

You still love her.

He drummed his fingers across the table. "What about my mansion?" He asked quietly.

"It'd be taken care of by the company, the cleaning people would still paid, of course."

You never stopped.

_It's true that they'd never get any rain. _

"And my agents?"

"They'd be paid in full to move with you, sir."

Why can't you admit it to yourself?

_But you know, they never get any sunshine either. _

Are you really that scared? Are you really going to become that cold man again?

Why can't you just go after her? What's stopping you?

"What about my wife?" The words came out before he even had the chance to think about them.

Norg sneered. "Thankfully, the divorce papers from that simpleton just came in the morning. You're at the top of the list in the bachelor magazines, Mr. Leonhart. Which means Ms. Galbadia and Ms. Esthar will be awaiting your phone call anytime."

It felt like his heart just plummeted from the top of the tallest building into the world to the ground.

She had signed them.

He clenched his fist tightly. She had just signed them this morning... he still had time. He still had a shot at getting her. Squall got up. "No." He said bluntly.

The man opposite of him dropped his coffee mug and became slack jawed.

"I don't need either of them." The author said sternly.

Norg was wheezing up a storm, flailing his arms about like a bird. "What?! How dare you refuse such an offer?! You're going to give all this up because... because of some woman?! She's a simpleton! A poor excuse for a woman? Think of what you're giving up?! How stupid are you?!"

Norg was doing a fairly good impersonation of a fish with his mouth hanging open as the rest of the chairmen sat and stared.

Squall shook his head, walked through the door.

And never looked back.

[ o [ o [ o

Xu sighed, rolling over to her back; starring at the ticking clock.

12:32am.

Then the damn phone started ringing. Because if there was anything Xu hated, it was phones ringing at midnight.

Even if she was up, Xu was not one for people calling in the middle of the night. She sighed, and settled back in to bed and waited for the annoying ringing to stop.

Only, it didn't.

Even after half of an hour, the phone continued ringing. Finally, on the edge of her sanity, Xu hauled the receiver up to her ear ready to scream.

"Who is this?!" She snapped.

_"Squall Leonhart. Is this Xu?"_

Is this Xu-?! Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. SQUALL LEONHART?!

"Squall Leonhart?!" She asked in disbelief totally disregarding his question. "You mean you're the-"

_"Look, is Quistis there? I need to talk to her. ...Please."_

"No." Xu snapped. "You don't need to talk to her. You broke her heart."

_"Xu, please. I need to talk to her."_

The woman rolled her eyes. If she had a buck for every guy who said he loved her - Was that her Grandmother in the background?

"You couldn't have loved her! If you loved her you'd be here trying to comfort her. She told me about you. How you used her and broke her heart."

_"I didn't mean to. I never meant to hurt her."_

"You didn't try too hard then, did you?" She accused. "Look, even if you do love her, it's too late. She won't listen to you, and neither will I. Besides, do you even know about the time difference here? It's one in the morning!"

"Xu, please. Just listen to me."

"Why? You're just off somewhere with your millions of dollars not caring."

_"I don't care if you don't believe me, just listen to my side of the story. That's all I'm asking. At first I wanted to use her. I didn't care about her. I thought she was like the rest of the women I dated. I was wrong. I was wrong to think I could use her. But as I got to know her I fell in love with her. I don't know if you heard about the Galbadia press conference a few days ago but I got offered four trillion dollars to move to Esthar. ...I didn't take it. I couldn't. If I had moved there I would have never had a chance to see her again. I... I couldn't bare the thought of that."_

Xu sat listening, silently. Would he stop harassing her if she let him talk to her?

_"Please believe me, Xu. I love her. Is she there? ...Can I speak to her?"_

"She's not here. She's in the dorm beside me. ...and she's not going not be happy about this."  
_  
"Please, Xu."_

"...Alright, hold on a minute." She shifted the portable phone between her shoulder and head before stepping out to the left and knocking at her friend's door.

"She's not answering." She knocked again, trying to keep the phone balanced.

Finally the door answered, with a tired looking blonde on the other side.

Xu cleared her throat. "Phone call." She said flatly, handing it over.

The other woman looked from her to the phone. "Who is it?"

The brunette shrugged. "Don't know. It sounded very important though."

Oh, you're so dead Xu. She's going to hang you from the ceiling fan.

The blonde slowly put it to her ear. "Hello?" Immediately, her expression changed from shocked to angered, and she moved her finger to hit the off button. "I don't ever want to talk to you again." She said. "What do you have to do to make me believe you?" She laughed bitterly. "Turn back time, Squall."

Xu winced, still having her eyes glued to her friend's in some hope that she might be able to tell what was going on by body language. "…Fine." Quistis sniped at the phone.

She was getting the distinct reason it wasn't well.

Then suddenly, a smile crossed her friend's lips. And Xu was hopelessly lost. "What's going on?" She hissed, trying to get her attention.

The blonde turned around and grabbed a note paper quickly scribbling down something before holding it up.

Selphie.

Who the hell was Selphie? Xu made a face. She was so lost, she sighed, crossing her arms and tapped her foot deciding it was probably better for them both if she just tuned out to which she did.

Her friend's face faded from amused to annoyed. "I don't want to hear it, Selphie." She said coldly. "I don't care what he says. Or what the press says." A pause. "...He never loved me, Selphie."

Xu snapped out of her nice little day dream involving various good looking, muscled men when the phone was suddenly handed to her rather roughly and was pushed out of the room. The woman had her mouth agape when the door slammed in her face. She quickly brought the phone to her ear. "What did you say to her?!"

_"Huh? Who is this? Where's Quisty?"_

Someone new this time, she noted dryly. Oh snappity snap, Xu. You just got replaced.

"Xu." She snapped, tired of all these people she had never heard of asking her name. "Now what did you tell her?"

_"Xu? Really? She always talked about you! I'm Selphie. Nice to meet you!"_

"Yes, yes. It's a pleasure." Xu grumbled. "Now what did you tell her?"  
_  
"The truth."_

Xu rolled her eyes. "What's the truth?" She might as well ask her horoscope while she was at it.

_"Look, Xu. He really never meant to hurt her. We know he didn't."_

Yeah, yeah. And the chocobo jumped over the moon. "I keep hearing that, but I don't believe it."

The woman on the other line of the phone sighed. _"The truth is Mr. Leonhart... he was going to propose to her. For real. Rinoa and I found the engagement ring yesterday... he was going to ask her to marry him the day she left."  
_  
Holy shit.

Xu dropped the phone.

…GAH. I had such an awful time writing this chapter. The only think I like from this chapter is the Grandmother's scene. I really should make up a name for her sometime.

Also, I'm so incredibly sorry for the delay. Thank you all for being so patient, and wishing me good luck on my trip. Everyone should visit Florence, it's an amazing place! (But try to avoid Alitalia. They delayed my flight three days.) I'll try to update soon, but college is keeping me very busy. I'll try my best though. Also, thank you very much to the wonderful Quallistic, who betaed this chapter! Everyone, go review her fan fiction, it's adorable.

PS: Anyone here play Hack//GU? I kind of need a beta reader/guinea pig for a Pi/Haseo fic. …Yes. You read right. Pi/Haseo.


	29. Endings

"Lemme guess. She hung up." Selphie said dryly from her side of the room. She hadn't been too happy with him since he had fired Rinoa. ...Which was a good week ago, and she was still as angry as she had been when she had first heard the news.

Squall gave her a flat look before hanging up the phone. Forty three messages and later and she still wasn't picking up. "No, really?" He asked, sarcastically.

"Yeah really!" Someone in the other room yelled, giddily.

"No way!"

Squall groaned. He was surrounded by morons. That internet lingo should have died years ago.

"When are you going to ask for help, mister?" Selphie asked eyeing him, hands on her hips.

He stopped himself from saying when Cupid flies by with a legion of flying pigs declaring that hell has frozen over. "When you get out of my room." He said, massaging his eyes. The girl stuck her tongue out at him and made a noise before leaving and slamming the door shut.

He sighed, falling back onto the bed. This wasn't getting anywhere. Two weeks later and he didn't even know where the hell she was. Xu wasn't picking up the phone and neither was her school. She could have been on remote island closest to Hell for all he knew.

Suddenly, he blinked. And if the sudden oncoming of ideas were to hurt, he would have been dead to the world.

Her parents.

Brilliant, moron. His mind chided, take two weeks to come up with something a kindergarten student could have come up with in five minutes.

He sat up quickly. Bloody brilliant. He was brilliant. Grabbing the set of car keys from his desk he opened the door, and started for the parking lot.

Only to literally run head first into Rinoa.

Dammit, women were like magnets to him now days.

She blinked at him, and opened her mouth to say something but then thought better of it and shut it before starting again. "I just came up to pick up Angelo's bowl." She admitted quietly. "I'll go once I get it."

He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "Where are you staying?" Nice, you cold hearted moron. Wait a whole week to ask her where's she been staying. Niiice.

She looked up quickly. "What?"

"Where. Are. You. Staying?"

The girl flushed slightly. "With Seifer. He's letting me stay. They're really nice over there! Even Fuujin's pretty nice when you get to know her."

He allowed himself a sigh of relief, thoughts of her living on the street slipping from his mind. Not that he cared, but you know. He sighed again, for a different reason this time. "Look, Rinoa..." He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

His brain and his mouth stopped in dead halt. Whoa. Hadn't seen that coming.

"If you still want your job.. you're still welcome here."

Rinoa smiled slowly, shaking her head. "No thanks." She looked down, still with the small smile. "You've been so nice to me... all these years. You're taken care of me, more than even my own father has, but... I think maybe it's time I moved on." A blush spread across her face. "I really love Seifer. He.. um, asked me to marry him. ..I said yes. The whole think about Angelo's bowl-" She stammered slightly. "I just wanted to tell Selphie-"

"Congratulations." He said quietly.

"Really?!" He nodded. "Thank you." She whispered. "…For everything." She took something out of her pocket and placed it in his hands, with a smile.

Squall nodded in silent understanding. "Selphie's upstairs."

The raven haired girl grinned. "Affirmative!" She laughed, reaching up and hugging him before dashing up the stairs, pausing at the top. "You know," She yelled down at him. "a little birdie told me a certain Ms. Trepe is still single! And that she might still be in love with some guy called Squall Leonhart!"

The man smiled slowly, walking to his car.

[ o [ o [ o

"I'm thinking of disconnecting my phone, what do you think?" Quistis asked lazily, flipping through essays.

"What if you get an important call?" Xu asked, from beside her.

"You mean like the one two weeks ago?" The blonde asked dryly.

Xu's head snapped up so quickly, just looking at her doing it made the other woman's neck hurt.

"What? I didn't know it was him, and I don't think you should." She lied quickly.

"Mhmm." The blonde said knowingly, after a moment she sighed. "What if I told you I was considering about going on a date with a guy who asked me out in Balamb?"

Xu made a choking sound for a moment, before bolting up. "What?!" She screeched. She calmed herself down for a moment. "Are you really ready to move on so fast?

The other woman gave her an odd look, and the brunette sighed. "Look, are you really going to just fall into the next guy that comes along arms? Just to forget him? Besides, that guy could be an idiot."

There was a moment of silence.

All men could be idiots, they both thought simultaneously.

"Look, what I really mean to say is... are you really sure you're over him? You were _married _to him." The brunette sighed. "Are you sure you're ready?"

No. "Xu, this whole thing has made me realize I want to have a real relationship with someone." She was lying, and they both knew it. 

Xu sighed, shaking her head. She didn't want to get married to that guy. She just wanted to get over him. "How do you know he's the one?"

"How do you know he isn't?"

Xu sighed, getting up and taking her paperwork with her. It was almost ten and she wanted some sleep and to avoid a nasty argument. She paused a moment at the door way. "How do you know Squall isn't?"

The blonde sighed, hearing the door shut behind the other woman.

"...I don't." She whispered quietly.

[ o [ o [ o

He shifted nervously as the sounds of shuffling came from behind the door. He was getting a sinking feeling this wasn't going to go well. At all. Whatsoever.

Finally (just as he made the resolution to bolt to back to his car), her mother opened the door.

And for a moment, it looked like dumb meets dumber. They stared at each other a moment, both on the edge of gaping. "Squall." Her mother said coldly.

This wasn't going to go well.

"Mrs. Trepe."

Cue the tumble weed to magically roll by.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

He swallowed, hard. "I came to speak to you."

Her mother cleared her throat, eyeing him wearily. "Are the things my daughter told me about you true?"

He sighed slowly. "Yes."

"Then would you care you to give me a reason why I should open my door for you?"

Touché. Squall slowly glanced up to meet her gaze. "I'm in love with her."

Her mother laughed, evidently amused. "Mr. Leonheart, I've heard that line since the first day of her classes in grade school. You're not the first man, and you won't be the last. I've had hundreds of love letters sent to her, thousands of phone calls and plenty of love confessions. So many men have tried to win her heart, and she's turned them all down."

The woman calmly met his gaze. "All except for you. I'm an old woman, Mr. Leonheart. I've seen plenty of heart breaks and plenty of people in love. Nothing I've seen can compare to what you have given her. I don't doubt that you love her. I don't doubt that all the men at my door step loved her. But I also don't doubt you broke her heart."

"They say that love makes you do some stupid things, Mr. Leonheart. I believe this is one of them." 

He inwardly winced. "What makes you think you can prove to me how much you love when I've seen all she's had to suffer? What can you possibly say? I trusted you with my daughter. I believed you when you told me you loved her, when you told me you would protect her. I see now I was wrong. What I see now is a man who thinks of my daughter as another notch on his bed, as a trophy." She sighed, taking a stern look at him. "Are you willing to prove me wrong?"

"Yes."

The woman smiled. "Then go ahead, Mr. Leonheart. I'm asking you to prove me wrong. ...I hope you do."

"I made a mistake." He said quietly. "When we first were married I thought I could use for her publicity and... I did. I tried to make her fall in love with me so she would stay married to me because if we stayed married it would have brought my ratings up..." He trailed off. "I used her."

"At first I was so focused on making her fall in love with me for the ratings... but I forgot about them. I fell in love with her, not for the ratings, not for the money. I forgot about the all the publicity when I was with her, my ratings fell. I didn't spend nearly as much time at the press conferences and galas as I had before. But I was happier than I had ever been before."

"She made me happy." He met her gaze once again. "I wanted to ask her to marry me for real. I wanted to her to know I wanted her to be wife for real, I wanted her to remember the wedding this time. I want to be with her. I'd give up everything I have just to be with her."

Her mother looked up at him sharply. "How do I know you're not lying about all this?" She eyed him wearily.

"How do you know I am?"

The woman allowed herself a small smile. "I'm assuming you're going to ask me what you really came here for?"

"If she accepts me... may I have your daughter's hand in marriage?"

[ o [ o [ o

She wasn't having a good day. And a headache wasn't making it any better, or was Xu popping in and out of the room at un-Godly hours. All the news about a certain Leonheart not attending meetings and not showing up for conferences seems to always be ready to jump into her face and smack her in spite, wasn't making things the situation any painless.

She sighed into the pillow. She should have listened, she really should have. The date hadn't gone well to say the least. She really should have known it was too good to be true. Nice tall blonde, broad shouldered guys, loves kids, has a dog, the manifestation of the prefect man.

Too bad she was the other woman.

She groaned. Maybe this whole idealistic love thing just wasn't for her. Maybe she'd just be the odd one out and grow old with thirty some cats, and be one of the old ladies everyone pities but strives to avoid.

Things would have been a going a lot smoother if her mind didn't constantly insist going back to the subject of her ex-husband.

Oh. It gave her a sudden surprise. Ex-husband. She had never referred to him as the before. She had almost forgotten they were divorced. She sighed again, moving her hands to the pillow. Lighter, she noted. Her hand felt lighter. And when she went to look it was then she remembered the wedding band was gone again.

So much for happily ever after.

[ o [ o [ o

"If this plans takes a dive off the nearest cliff and commits suicide, I'm not taking responsibility for it." Xu said, tapping her fingers along the desk.

"_I know. I'm not asking you to convince her to love me again, just get her to the place." _

"Easy for you to say. Sounds like I have the hard job here. Do have any idea how much she panics when you put her in a car without telling her where you're going?"

"_A lot." _

Xu winced. _Riiight. _They had been married. Nice going.

"Alright, but I'm not making any guarantees." The woman sighed. "So what was the answer?"

"…_Yes." _

"It's not going to be easy."

He sighed on the other line. "_Life never is."_

Xu smiled.

"You better keep your word, Leonhart."  
_  
"I'm not going to lose her again, Xu."_

The woman smiled. That was exactly what she wanted to hear.

[ o [ o [ o

It had taken her exactly three months, fours days, sixteen minutes and three seconds to come to a certain conclusion:

Life _sucked_.

Her day hadn't started out well. A headache in the morning, a petition paper from her students in the afternoon demanding that there wasn't a test; and now being dragged out for a 'supposed' good night on the town for her birthday.

Hah. As if she hadn't pulled enough pull nighters the last couple of weeks already. Her early birthday bash being one of the more notable ones. Who knew stuffy old teachers could get smashed so easily? She sighed, putting a hand to her forehead. She was just glad she had gone to her parent's that night before things had gotten too out of hand. Last she had heard about that was that a few teachers now had a track record of indecent exposure.

She shuddered at the thought.

"Ready?" Xu called from the doorway, tapping her foot impatiently.

No, actually, she thought deadpanned. If I'm going to get smashed for my birthday, which I don't want to do, but if I do, I'd rather do it in my own room, thank you. Technically, she should have quit drinking cold turkey after what had happened - She allowed the thought to die a horrible death before getting anywhere the mention of certain storms. It was in the past. It didn't matter anymore. She wasn't married anymore, she was single. She could go date, get engaged and married to someone she actually remembered meeting and falling in love with that wouldn't use her for money.

The fact still stung after such amount of time.

Screw it, her mind snapped. Go out there and find yourself a real man. Or get smashed. Whatever.

She wisely decided to ignore the outgoing part of her brain, and set a few guidelines for herself before going. 1 - No drinking 2 - No getting smashed (see number one) 3 - No getting smashed and sleeping and getting married to strangers (see one and two) 4 - Be gay. Save yourself a lot of trouble. She shook her head for a moment before scratching off number four. Bad idea.

Just get over him. He's not worth it. That's what she told herself at least. She sighed before checking her watch and adjusting the strap, as if it would solve all of her problems.

"Yeah. Let's go."

She had a bad feeling about it.

[ o [ o [ o

This wasn't good. One wasn't supposed to plan out how to win his ex-wife back and then GET STUCK IN TRAFFIC. He laid his hand on the horn, before looking out the window. Pouring rain. And traffic lined up to the Ice Pole. The brunette sighed before taking out his cell phone and hitting speed dial. "Xu?"

"_Yeah?!" _He made a face. The music in the background was booming, it was practically impossible to hear a sound unless he was the next superman in the forty millionth sequel.

He shook his head. "I can't hear you. The music's too loud."

"_YEAH?!" _

He sighed. "What's going on over there?"

"_WHAT?!" _

"WHAT'S GOING ON OVER THERE?" The people in the car next to him looked at him disgust.

"Teenagers these days." The man said, shaking his head.

Squall's jaw dropped. TEENAGER?!

"_SHE HASN'T FIGURED OUT PLAN FOXHOLE 245 B." _

"FOX HOLE _WHAT_?" He yelled into the phone.

"_PLAN FOX HOLE 245-"_

He gave an exasperated sigh as the phone became static and the signal died. There was no way in hell was going to get through this crowd in one piece. Until he saw it. His saving Grace.

He undid his seat belt and quickly got out of the car before running over to a man with a motorcycle. "Trade you for the car."

The man gave a him a weird look, and he sighed. "If you give me the bike I'll give you the car."

The man grinned.

[ o [ o [ o

"Isn't this place cool?" Xu yelled over the crowd, waving to random people.

For a moment, she reminded her of Selphie- She shook her head looking around the place, only barely catching the clock out of the corner of her eye. 1:08 am. The blonde frowned. It couldn't be one in the morning. It was only nine when they left.

She shook her head again. No one else seemed to notice though, so she ignored it. Maybe it was just her. Maybe it was just lack of sleep. Xu was out of sight now, and sighed. Some friend. Drag her here and then ditch her.

"Hey, babe. Want to dance?" Someone beside her asked, she looked up to a tall burly man.

She shook her head. "No thank you. I'll be leaving soon."

The man frowned and stalked off in the other direction trying to find some other unlucky woman. Stupid Xu. She pushed through the crowd tying to look for her, interrupting several dancing partner dancing to the live music in the background.

She felt like banging her head against the wall. First she gets ditched, then the clocks go psycho on her. A tapping on her shoulder made her snap around, nearly elbowing the people behind her in the gut. This was all leading up to some crazy axe murderer ending, she knew it.

Oh, c'mon. Not _again_.

But this time, it was a different man, and this man was relatively good looking. "Want to dance?"

Don't say yes. Don't say yes. It'll it make you a hypocrite. You tell your students not to judge books by the cover - That was the ration side of her brain.

Do as I say, not as I do. Besides, men are different than books. You judge by the -

She cut that thought off quite quickly before it got even hotter in her than she though it actually was. Her brain took it as a chance to take some initiative to bounce back into the dating thing most women her age should be doing. After all, the maternal clock was ticking.

"Sure." Stupid! Oh, you'd better hope that big burly guy isn't watching.

The man bowed to her before taking her hand and leading her onto the dance floor.

See? This is what actual gentlemen do, her mind snapped.

You never minded it when Sq-

Okay, whoa, whoa. Back up there. No talking-about-he-who-shall-not-be-named tonight. Tonight, you have an actual nice guy. Enjoy it.

You still love him.

Don't go there.

The man placed her hand on his waist.

Oh no. She couldn't do this. She swallowed hard, trying to regain her thoughts. Stop thinking about him! He hasn't called, bothered to talk to you -

You unconnected your phone, for God's sake! There's a reason he hasn't contacted you!

…

Point taken.

[ o [ o [ o 

He was well aware that it was against the law to go around cars on a motorcycle. He also, to be quite frank, didn't care. Adjusting the visor, he slowed down for the red light at the intersection before checking his watch. He was late. Damn.

The author sighed, leaning the motorcycle to the side as he put a foot down to keep it balanced. This sucked, and he still had a good twenty minutes to get to the bar. "Come on, come on." He muttered, glaring at the light.

Finally, it turned green and he sped off. The people in the car beside him blinked, before hitting the gas pedal. "Was that…?"

The girl beside her swooned. "Yeah."

Squall sighed, gunning the gas. He was going to keep his promise.

He wasn't going to lose her again.

[ o [ o [ o

And according to Fox hole plan- what was it again? Rinoa pursed her lips. Seriously. What an unnecessarily long name. "See her yet?"

The fact that Selphie was squinting wasn't making her feel any better about this. "Nope- wait, wait! I think - heey!"

"You see her?!" Okay. That was a little too loud, and she knew it.

"They've got karaoke!"

"Selphie." Deadpanned voice. "We're here to get Quis, remember?"

"I know, I know! Whoa." The petite brunette paused a moment, before her hands flew to her mouth. "Rinny!" She didn't wait for the other girl to reply and instead grabbed her arm and turned her in the right direction. "We have a problem."

"Hey, that guy's kind of cute - Wait! Is that Quistis?! Okay, well obviously it is, but-" Rinoa didn't know much about sports. Playing them, anyways. But she did know this required some sort of football move. Some sort of interception was needed here.

And _now_. 

"Selphie, do you know the tango?"

[ o [ o [ o

The man smiled at her and she forced a smile back.

You still love him! What are you doing?!

This is great. You're having an inner debate with your self while dancing with a some hunk of a man. Is something wrong here? NO. Stop thinking and dance. Act your age. You're not 67, you're 21. It's your birthday, live a little. Get with times.

…But you still love-

"Awrgh!" She looked back to her dance partner that had somehow ended up sprawled out on the floor. What the- When had the song suddenly switched to the tango? And that couple behind them was apparently very bad. Or at least badly coordinated.

"Are you alright?" The blonde offered him her hand, catching a distinctive shade of yellow in the crowd. 

It couldn't be- But. It looked just like-

"Selphie!" Rinoa hissed, glancing behind them. "He's getting up again!" 

"What do you want me to do, bulldoze him?!"

"Yes!" Yanking on the other girl's hand, she dragged her back to the dance floor. "Think of something! We have to get them apart!"

"Um! Wait, I've got an idea!"

The man was just starting to get over his disorientation when the couple came charging over for more. The blonde furrowed her eyebrow at the sight before rolling her eyes. "Selphie, Rinoa, what are you doing here?"

They paused mid step, dumbstruck looks on their faces. Selphie shrugged innocently.

"…The tango?"

[ o [ o [ o

Xu meanwhile, was having her own problems. With Rinoa caught in the 'I am not amused' lecture, it was kind of hard to follow through with the plan. Especially when the other girl was currently was unable to talk. Luckily, they had a backup plan.

Blinking.

Scribbling down on a piece of paper, Xu manoeuvred herself in the blonde's blind spot. She just hoped Rinoa's eye sight was as good as she said it was.

'IS SQUALL HERE YET?' The writing was as neat as she could muster, and in capitals. Now, she just needed a response. One blink for yes, two for no.

Watching the other woman, Xu stared stupid. One blink. Alright. He was here. Wait, that's two. So now.

…What the hell was three blinks?

Xu massaged her temples. It was going to be a long night.

[ o [ o [ o

"-and for you two to sneak in here, without even _considering_ my feel-"

The room went silence, and she trailed off from her lecture. Turning around, her breath caught in her throat.

And it felt like time had stopped.

He was in the crowd, at the very back watching her. And she felt her heart stop.

This wasn't Cinderella, here people - and dignity wasn't an issue. She bolted for the door, pushing through the crowd like a mad man.

And as the people looked at her, not even bothering to protest when she pushed them aside she realized they looked the somewhat familiar. "Xu? Xu!"

She gave up after a few tries. She wasn't waiting for her, she was getting out of there as fast as she could. She wasn't emotionally stable for another encounter with him.

Fate had different plans for her.

She only made it to about halfway through the floor before she was held back by a hand over her wrist. Dryly, she noted it probably wasn't the guy who she had been dancing with before.

"Why are you here, Squall?"

The room, conveniently went silent.

"Because you told me to turn back time."

And suddenly, it all clicked. The clocks, the people, the bar, Xu - everything! She whipped around at him, suddenly furious. A year later, and in the exact same situation that had started the whole thing.

"I told you I never wanted to see you again! You didn't respect my wishes, you didn't respect me! Are you here to gloat? Why?!" She yelled at him, clenching her fists.

"Because I love you!" He snapped back at her.

She turned away for a moment. "You don't love me." She said quietly before turning to him again. "You never loved me. You love yourself. You love your money, you love your career! You can't love anymore."

"Then why am I here? To make an idiot out of myself? To get yelled at? Maybe I'm here to try to talk you? What about that?" He yelled back , evidently angry. "Then why did I sign the divorce papers?! We could have stayed married, but I let you go."

"Why _did_ you sign them then?" She asked quietly, somewhat aware that they were the center of attention.

"Because I thought I could get over you." He said, running his fingers through his hair. "But I can't. I still love you."

I wish you did. She shook her head. "I can't... I can't believe you." She turned away.

"If I didn't love you then why do I have this?"

Don't turn around, for God's sake don't turn around.

She turned around. If he was the box, she was Pandora.

He held an engagement ring in his hand. "If I didn't love you, why would I have this?"

She breath caught in her throat and tears stung her eyes.

"If I wanted to use you for the money, why didn't I take the job? Why didn't I go to Esthar?"

Her mind raced. The job, the job in the paper, the one he hadn't taken because of personal reasons.

Because of her. He hadn't taken the job because of her.

Oh God.

She covered her mouth with her hands. "Because you can't express your feelings, because you can't get along with people."

Ouch. He inwardly winced. Okay, fine he deserved that.

"Because you're an idiot. Because you have the social skills of a bloody brick wall!" She snapped before trailing off with a sigh. She looked up at him after a moment of silence. "I tried so hard to convince myself I could get over you. But in the end, it turns out I couldn't. …I still love you." 

"Ask me." She whispered after a moment of nerve wracking silence.

"About the divorce papers?" He asked, confused.

She let out a small laugh. "No. Ask me for real this time."

_Oh. _He took her hand and slowly got down on one knee. "Quistis Trepe, will you marry me?"

"Yes."

He slid the ring onto her finger before taking her in his arms and spinning her around before putting her down.

The crowd cheered. Then she slapped him.

"That was for being a complete and total prick." She said sternly, straight faced. He gave her an incredulous look.

Fine. Maybe he did deserve it.

"I swear to Hyne though, Squall, if you do _anything_ like that again-"

Selphie and Rinoa winced inwardly at the oncoming lecture. "That's gonna be one heck of honeymoon if she keeps that up--"

"Selphie."

'What?" The girl asked innocently.

"That's way too much information." 

[ o [ o [ o 

"You may now kiss the bride." 

Squall sighed, relieved. The twenty minute ceremony he hadn't paid attention to was officially worthwhile. He lifted the veil before kissing his bride.

"May I present to you Mr. And Mrs. Leonheart." The priest paused a moment before adding, "Again. Let's hope the third time is the last." He sighed, before flipping the book shut. "I'm getting tired of performing the same ceremony three times." He muttered under his breath. With a wave of unenthusiastic hand, he sighed. "Go throw the bouquet or party. Whatever."

Irvine grinned, tipping his hat. "You heard the man. Throw the bouquet."

Squall raised an eyebrow. "…Hoping for someone to catch it?"

The cowboy continued to grin, leaning back further in his chair. "Maybe."

"Over here! Over here, here, here! Here, dammit!"

The bride sighed, her back facing the crowd. "Can you please tell the fortune teller to stop yelling?"

Her husband shrugged, "Just throw it."

She rolled her eyes before throwing it, listening to the scrambling noises in the background before turning around. "Who caught it?" 

"RAGE!"

Everyone stared at the albino bodyguard who managed to have the bouquet land in the middle of her drink. She sighed, before handing it to a squealing Selphie. "USELESS." 

"Whoo-hoo! I caught the bouquet!"

"Well, technically, babe-" Irvine trailed off when the girl glared at him. "Okay, sure, doll. You caught it." He sighed, resigning his cowboy hat over too when she stole it and proudly wore it. "So baby doll, speaking of weddings…"

"-Speaking of weddings, Irvy! Guess what I got just for this? A new video camera! Isn't it cool? Booyaka!"

Irvine sighed, shaking his head with a smile.

Rinoa sighed happily, admiring happy couples before wandering off to the punch bowl and putting her hands on her hips. "Don't you owe me a drink, mister?"

Seifer handed over a drink before sighing. "We need to talk."

The ex-maid froze, before looking away. He was breaking up with her? But they just got engaged? Was it something she did? Maybe he didn't like the bows she put on the furniture - "…R-Really?"

"Yeah. Your mutt takes up all the room in the bed. Can't you teach it to sleep on the floor or something? I'm gonna get fleas."

She smiled. "I'm sure we can come to something." The raven haired girl trailed off watching a fortune teller stroll through the crowd. 

"Fortunes, fortunes. Tell your fortune!"

"Oh, tell mine!" Laguna said, waving the woman over.

"Ward says that it's going to bad." Kiros muttered, gesturing to the silent man.

"What?! The fool? Aw, come on…" 

Squall raised an eyebrow at the elderly woman leaving his father's table to go walk around in the crowd. "…Was that the woman-"

"I honestly don't know how she got here."

"….Just talking to my father?"

"I still don't know how she got here, Squall."

"…I don't know how you couldn't miss the media."

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "Please tell me that isn't my Grandmother talking to her."

"…Alright. She's not talking to your Grandmother."

"That's not helping, Squall. Oh no. They're coming this way." The unspoken 'hide' in her voice was evident to him, but apparently old ladies could really walk fast if desired. Very fast.

"Oh dearies! Look who I found! My old friend Gertrude from school. We haven't seen each other in 53 years!"

"You know each other?" The bride asked after a moment. Somehow she wouldn't put it past either of them.

"Of course." Gertrude replied, shuffling a pack of conveniently placed tarot cards. "How do you think I knew exactly what stop to find you in Deling?"

The blonde stared silently.

"Pick three cards?" Gertrude asked, hopefully. "Oh come on. Humour an old lady."

Squall watched the two bicker a moment before sighing and picking a card up. "…Call for a good time? - Mark." He stared at the card a moment before the elderly woman snatched it away.

"Wrong card. Pick another." The woman checked her hair for a moment before turning back to her old friend. "So Olive, what were you saying about these two on a table?"

"Well, I went to get my purse-" The grandmother paused a minute before looking back to the couple. "And -" 

"Couples to the dance floor, please!" Both women watched as the couple sped walk to the dance floor eagerly in an effort to avoid a potentially blackmailable story.

"Dammit." The other elderly woman sighed. "Forgot to get her to pay."

The grandmother sighed. "Oh Gertrude, they'll need the money all the grandchildren they're going to give me. I'm gonna be a great grannie before you know it!"

Kiros looked at Laguna and sighed. "Are you crying?"

The president sniffled. "No. I just love weddings. I mean, come on, free food…"

"…Ward says you're a horrible liar. And to get a Kleenex."

Irvine tapped the video camera with a sigh. "…And this is their wedding! But you know they ended up getting divorced again twice, before getting remarried-" 

"IRVY!" Selphie screeched, giving him a pull on the pony tail before turning back to the camera. "No they didn't! They stayed married, thank you very much! Are you getting all this, Rinny?"

The camera bobbed up and down in a nod.

The petite girl grinned in approval. "And that's how your mommy and daddy met! Well, I mean you're not born yet so I guess you won't understand, but you know."

"You're probably gonna get conceived right after this." Seifer muttered under his breath with a smirk, before getting his foot stomped on by Rinoa.

"Anyways! Auntie Selphie and Auntie Rinny will show you this when you're older- Oh, look Rinny, Rinny! Look, look! To right!"

The camera panned to the left.

"No, Rinny! Right, right! That way!"

The camera panned to the right after a moment before turning towards the ground, then to Selphie. "Hey, Selphie. This blinking icon… thing. What does it mean?"

The brunette whipped around. "Irvy! You didn't charge it like I told you too! Now we're gonna miss the good parts!"

"Babe, you know it's illegal to sneak into someone's hotel room. You can't tape the wedding night-"

"PERVERT!" Both girls screeched in unison.

The camera lingered on Selphie's rant for a moment before turning the camera to the married couple. "It's shutting off!" Rinoa whined. "No!"

A barely managed zoom in on the married couple just seconds from kissing was the last thing the camera recorded with a small voice over from the Grandmother. 

"That's my girl! Show him Trepes are fiery in bed!" 

The whole dance floor went into an awkward silence before the camera finally shut off.

[ o [ o [ o

"What do you say, third time's the charm?" She asked with a laugh.

Her husband smiled at her. "Yeah. Is it." He brushed her bangs out of her eyes. "I love you, Quistis Leonheart-Trepe."

The blonde raised an eyebrow at him. "Trepe or Leonheart. Not both."

"What?" 

She sighed. "Squall, who is their right mind going to take the last name Leonheart-Trepe seriously? That's like mixing our names and coming up with 'Quall'. I mean, what kind of name is Quall?"

He sighed, debating it for a moment. "Leonheart it is."

"Fine." The blonde wrapped her arms around his neck, before pulling him down for a kiss. "I love you too, Squall Leonheart. Actually, I should correct myself. _We_ love you. You're going to be a father."

Seifer balked from the dance floor. "Can I gag yet?… Hey, did puberty boy just faint?"

Selphie smacked him, totally disregarding the second question. "Only if I can say the End! Can I? Okay, okay! They lived happily ever after! The end! The ennnnd! Oh, that sounds so cool! The ennnnnddd. Awesome! The end! The end!"

"Yo, Tilmett -"

"The ennnnd!"

"- I think you had a few too many drinks there."

"Oh, live a little! The eeeennnnnndddd! Who-hooo!"

"…You're gonna be so hung over in the morning…"

"The ennnddddddddd. Hey, wait whaddya mean Squall fainted? What's going on?! Holy Hyne, Quisty's pregnant?! Who didn't tell me? C'mon guys! We need to share the gossip--"

"END." Fuujin finally cut in, exasperated.

**THE END. **

**SERIOUSLY. **

_Author's End Notes. _

Seriously though. Thank you all so much for putting up with my sarcastic humour, typos and incredibly long waits for new chapters. I appreciate every single person who gave this story a shot, even if they didn't like it. It really does mean a lot to me, and I hope if I haven't sworn everyone here off Quall by now, you might perhaps stick around another for one if my fics if another one per chance, debuts.

Thanks.

PS: Told you I would finish the story before the year was over! It's 11:44 on New Year's Eve. I'm cutting it close.


End file.
